Why Four Korean Cities Made RESCENE Their Ambassador

Between 22 May and 2 July 2026, four Korean cities — Geoje, Suwon, Gyeongju and Goyang — each appointed RESCENE as their ambassadors. Seven weeks, four municipalities, five members: by the time the last certificate was handed over, every Korean member of the group was fronting the city she comes from. The trail leads back to one shouted greeting in a travel video, and to a decision by the first city to hand out the job as a short-form clip rather than a ceremony.

It started in a Geoje travel video

On 20 March 2026, Woni and Minami published a Geoje travel video on Woni’s YouTube channel. Woni told Minami that turning up in gyaru make-up would get her told off by the people of Geoje; Minami answered with a bright ‘거제, 야호~!’ — ‘Geoje, yahoo!’ — and that was the line that travelled. Star News traced the greeting to that video, and Joongboo Ilbo reported it as the moment local governments started paying attention.

The channel it came from was itself new. The Korea Economic Daily dates it to Woni’s appearance on the web variety show ‘나의 연수 아저씨’, after which her own channel — ‘안녕하세요원이입니다잘부탁드립니다’ — began drawing millions of views a video. The Geoje trip is covered in more detail in our piece on that episode; what matters here is the timing. Melon’s first-half report puts the spread of the meme in spring 2026 and measured a 6,550% rise in in-app searches for the group. Geoje signed them in May.

Geoje handed out the job as a short-form clip

Geoje held the appointment on 22 May 2026, and deliberately did not hold it the way cities usually do. Kuki News reported that the city dropped the protocol-centred format and staged the whole thing as short-form content, published at the same time on RESCENE’s and Geoje’s own YouTube and Instagram accounts — an online ambassadorship, in the city’s own wording, aimed at speaking to a younger audience.

The member the city could point to is Woni, who is from Geoje. In the same run of videos she jumped into the sea there and introduced herself to neighbours as ‘덕연이 딸인데요’ — ‘I’m Deok-yeon’s daughter’. A city official told Kuki News the appointment was ‘not a one-off, but a starting point’ for new stories and content, and promised further collaborations online and offline. Kuki News also noted how the group’s ‘LOVE ATTACK’ had reached that audience at all: a reverse run up the charts, a spell as a KBO baseball cheer song and short-form challenges.

Suwon attached the group to a visit year

Suwon followed on 24 June, and its connection was Liv, who grew up in the city’s Guun-dong. The appointment came with a campaign attached: the Korea Economic Daily reports that the group fronts Suwon’s ‘2026–2027 Suwon Visit Year’ campaign alongside general city promotion.

Electronic Times framed the Suwon signing as the ‘야호’ story continuing — this time Suwon too — which is roughly how the sequence read in Korea by late June.

Gyeongju took the tourism version

On 29 June, Gyeongju appointed the group as tourism ambassadors rather than general promotional ones, and published the appointment on the city’s official news page. The member here is Zena, who is from Gyeongju and had picked up the nickname ‘신라공주’ — Silla princess — for the Gyeongsang dialect segments she does on Woni’s channel; the Korea Economic Daily says the city named her popularity as the reason.

Gyeongju also said what it wanted: the group would take part in the city’s festivals and events and appear in promotional content. Of the four appointments, it is the one with the most concrete brief attached, which fits a city whose main industry for outsiders is its own history. The dialect episodes that produced the nickname are covered in our piece on them.

Goyang completed the set

Goyang made it four on 2 July, naming May, who went to elementary and middle school in the city. The Korea Economic Daily notes that RESCENE were the first ambassadors of Goyang’s ninth elected municipal term, and that May’s role is framed as a bridge for the city’s culture and tourism assets to reach a global audience. The group said the appointment was meaningful because it is May’s hometown.

That completed a set that Korean outlets started calling a grand slam: with Goyang, every Korean member of RESCENE fronts the city she comes from. The Korea Economic Daily’s tally leaves exactly one gap — Minami, the group’s Japanese member, is from Chiba, and no city there has appointed anybody.

Why four cities moved in seven weeks

A 홍보대사 — ambassador — is a familiar civic honour in Korea, usually given to a public figure with local roots to front tourism campaigns, festivals and city content. What is unusual here is not the institution but the speed, and the fact that each city could claim a different member.

Joongboo Ilbo, reporting from Gyeonggi Province before the Goyang appointment, described local governments watching for a ‘리센느 특수’ — a RESCENE effect — and treating the group as a new kind of promotional partner, because the attention came from short-form video the members made themselves rather than from an advertising buy. Money Today’s summary of the sequence is the simplest one: the shout-out on Woni’s channel started it, Geoje moved first, and the other cities followed. Liv and May’s own turn on the channel, as the ‘리트와 메트’ pairing, is part of why all five members were recognisable by the time the invitations arrived.

Key takeaways

• Geoje — 22 May 2026 — Woni’s hometown, and the city named in Minami’s ‘거제 야호’ greeting. Appointed as online ambassadors, in a short-form clip instead of a ceremony.
• Suwon — 24 June 2026 — Liv, who grew up in Guun-dong; the appointment carries the ‘2026–2027 Suwon Visit Year’ campaign.
• Gyeongju — 29 June 2026 — Zena, nicknamed ‘신라공주’; named tourism ambassadors, with festivals, events and promotional content in the brief.
• Goyang — 2 July 2026 — May, who attended elementary and middle school there; the first ambassadors of the city’s ninth elected term.
• Every Korean member’s home city is now covered. Minami is from Chiba, Japan, which is the only gap in the set.
• Melon measured a 6,550% rise in in-app searches for RESCENE after the meme began in spring 2026; the Korea Economic Daily had ‘LOVE ATTACK’ at 3rd on Melon’s daily chart on 3 July.