President Lee Charm of Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has been reappointed to serve his second term as the CEO of the KTO on July 31, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports said recently.

Coming to Korea from Germany in 1978, I fell in love with Korea’s history, culture, nature and people so much so that I became a Korean citizen, the KTO CEO said in KTO’ s homepage on the Internet.

Now as the head of Korea’s tourism industry, I have the privilege of promoting Korea’s numerous attractions that I have enjoyed so much in the past and still enjoy today. 

Some people might say there isn’t much to see in Korea, but I strongly disagree. Visitors will find beautiful landscapes and fascinating historical relics in every corner of the country. Local customs and mouth-watering delicacies form part of our treasured heritage. And then there is the unstoppable energy of modern Korea, a power rooted in ancient history that has catapulted the once impoverished country into the exclusive club of wealthy nations within less than 50 years. 

Let me and my team help you discover the charms of Korea and assist you in planning the perfect trip. 

 In the meantime, an evening of classical music featuring Korea’ s foremost artists took the auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall, standing in the heart of London’ s Southbank Centre complex. 

 On July 31, the classical music concert “Shining K-Classics” with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chief Conductor Leif Segerstam welcomed to the stage two renowned Korean female musicians, violinist Sarah Chang and soprano Sumi Jo (Jo Sumi). 

The concert was the grand finale of a series of performances, held as part of the 100-day “All Eyes on Korea” festival. Over the last two weeks of July, London embraced several K-music concerts that blended Korea’ s traditional and modern genres. Among the other performances brought to Londoners included Korean music ensemble Baramgot and a phenomenal modernized reinterpretation by Pansori Project ZA and Jaram Lee (Lee Jaram) of “Sacheon-ga,” a song from the traditional Korean music genre pansori recognized by UNESCO. 

“Shining K-Classics” marked the second time Sumi Jo and Sarah Chang performed on the same stage. Fifteen years ago, the two most active and prolific artists on the global scene together took part of a commemorative concert for Korea’ s Independence Day. 

The evening unfolded with Tchaikovsky’ s Overture-Fantasy “Romeo and Juliet,” followed by Chang’ s refined interpretation of the third movement of Max Bruch’s “Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor,” a work for which she has become world-renowned. 

Jo mesmerized the audiences with a repertoire of Eva Dell’ Acqua’ s famous “Villanelle” and “Caro nome” (Dearest Name), Gilda’ s aria from Verdi’ s Rigoletto. 

The diva, who was praised for her “divine voice” by legendary Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan in an audition that dates back to 1988, received rave responses after singing an arrangement by Ahn Junjoon of the traditional Korean song “Arirang.” 

Chang performed an arrangement of Bernstein’ s West Side Story Suite and the concert drew to a close with Offenbach’ s “Doll’ s Song” by the soprano