Korea
Im Yong Soo is the national personification of South Korea (Republic of Korea) in the series Hetalia. Depicted as a young man among the Asian national personifications, he is energetic, cheerful, and highly expressive. He often marches to the beat of his own drum, frequently driving the neighboring nations into exasperation with his unpredictable antics.
Overview
Im Yong Soo is the national personification of South Korea (Republic of Korea) in the series Hetalia. Depicted as a young man among the Asian national personifications, he is energetic, cheerful, and highly expressive. He often marches to the beat of his own drum, frequently driving the neighboring nations into exasperation with his unpredictable antics.
Appearance
He has black hair parted to reveal his forehead, featuring a prominent upward-curling ahoge near the part. Remarkably, this ahoge has its own face that alters its expression in sync with the emotions of the Korean people. Possessing a handsome face and a muscular build attributed to military service, he is relatively tall compared to other Asian characters. He typically wears a blue-and-white outfit inspired by traditional clothing (sochang-ok). In early concept sketches, he was depicted with long black hair in a single braid and dressed in a chima chogori.
Personality
He is exceptionally cheerful, lively, and highly expressive, shouting with joy when happy and weeping dramatically when sad. Extremely individualistic and rarely calm, he habitually claims that various creations originated from him, often leaving those around him baffled. While he respects elders and uses polite speech toward them due to cultural values, he rarely actually listens to what others say. He converses in a friendly manner with a distinct sentence-ending catchphrase.
Abilities
When collaborating on animation development with China, he demonstrated strong skills in drawing manga-style illustrations. He is also avid at playing online games. Additionally, despite appearing off-guard, he possesses a knack for photogenically posing the moment a camera is pointed toward him.
Background
His human name, Im Yong Soo, was assigned by the author in response to a fan query about potential human names for the characters. Although he appeared in the early comic releases, he was omitted from later published volumes and the anime adaptation due to real-world circumstances. Within the story, he is shown running a lucrative real estate business and once attempted to take kimchi into space.
Relationships
He addresses China (Wang Yao) respectfully as 'Aniki' (big brother), though he regularly exasperates him by ignoring his advice and asserting origin claims. He similarly confounds Japan (Kiku Honda) with his unpredictable behavior. Conversely, he shows a willingness to listen to the American character. Additionally, Hong Kong has picked him up for conferences, and France once scolded him for trying to take kimchi to space.
Trivia
His distinctive speech patterns were inspired by the author's real-life Korean friend speaking Japanese. His hobbies include watching dramas and studying abroad, with Canada being a favored destination. He is famously obsessed with kimchi. In his initial concept design, his character concept involved dreaming of going to the United States to become a star.