How popular is ‘League of Legends’ in Korea? Ask this cosplaying politician

League of Legends is so big in Korea that even politicians cosplay as characters from the game. 

Congressman Jun Byung-hun, chairman of the Korea eSports Association, promised that if the Korean team SK Telecom T1 won this year’s League of Legends World Championship, he’d cosplay as a LoL character and post photos online.

The team won, and Rep. Jun delivered, posting some pretty great costumed photos of himself as the character Gragas to his Twitter account.

Gaming is a massive pastime in Korea, but it’s also controversial. Many in the older generation are critical of the younger generation’s interest in video games. 

Kotaku reported, “In a country where there’s a gaming ‘Shutdown Law’ and some in the older generation don’t get gaming, Korean gamers need every friend they can get—and this politician seems like he’s in their court.”

But Jun said the elders need to remember that they were young once, too.

It doesn’t hurt his case that LoL is one of the most popular (and profitable) eSports in the world, and gaming in Korea is on the verge of becoming a $5 billion industry. That kind of money is a language every generation understands.

H/T Kotaku / Photos via Twitter