Korea Culture and Information Service (KOCIS), under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), held a ceremony to inaugurate the 2022 class of honorary ambassadors of Korean culture in celebration of the 15th Together Day.
The event took place under the catchphrase “Harmony with K-culture,” a message designed to resonate with people around, at the MBC Golden Mouse Hall in Sangam-dong, Seoul, on May 20. It was streamed alive via Korea.net’s YouTube channel and the metaverse “KOREA WORLD.”
KOCIS has operated the metaverse exhibition hall to help foreign aficionados of Korean culture share their own hallyu (Korean Wave) last Nov. 30.
The 2022 class of honorary ambassadors of Korean culture consists of 4,834 Korea.net honorary reporters from 122 countries and 1,856 K-influencers from 103 countries. KOCIS elected the honorary ambassadors through a public contest.
The number of the 2022 class of honorary ambassadors of Korean culture represents a surge of about 2,000 people compared to the previous year, and it recorded a record number of nationalities and languages, indicating continuously rising interest in Korean culture among people around the world.
The honorary ambassadors will engage in activities to spread awareness of Korean culture to all parts of the world by producing diverse content stories, photos and videos related to Korea in their own languages, from their own perspective, for one year.
The inauguration ceremony introduced honorary ambassador seniors’ excellent practices and newly inaugurated honorary ambassadors’ aspiration and hope.
K-influencer Eman Sultan from Bahrain, who says she is the only global Korean culture ambassador from Bahrain, said she came to Korea as a representative of her country. She demonstrated her design work using Arabic and Hangeul letters.
Honorary Reporter Alybaev Bektursun from Kyrgyzstan, now head of an association of Kyrgyzstani students in Korea, expressed hope he would write stories inductive to Kyrgyzstani students who want to study in Korea.
He conducted a short samulnori (traditional Korean farmer's music) performance. He said he had been interested in Korea and its language since his childhood and that's why he learned samulnori, he said.
KOCIS Director Park Myeong-sun attended the ceremony, along with KOCIS Director General Yi Chong-yul, two honorary reporters and two K-influencers.
Forty other ambassadors of Korean culture abroad also joined through a webinar.
Second Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yong-man sent a congratulatory video message, saying, "What brought Korea and the world together when countries were cut off due to COVID-19 was the articles and videos made by all of you."
“This is the world's largest Hallyu network, and the aspects of Korean culture, history, tourism and policy that each and every one of you introduces will shape the Korea seen by the world.”
On Bektursun’s performance, Director General Yi said, “I can feel how gugak (traditional Korean music) is loved worldwide as much as K-pop.”
K-influencer Nancy Castro from Mexico, who put on a gugak performance at last year's induction ceremony, performed Gyeonggi minyo (folk song from Gyeonggi-do Province), which she called “one of her favorite gugak genres.”
Director Park hailed her performance, saying, “Her talent is remarkable.”
Magician Choi Hyo-won, who directed the Netflix hit series "The Sound of Magic," showed off his craft by transforming blank frames into certificates and giving them to honorary reporters and K-influencers worldwide. At a closing the ceremony was a harp and guitar medley performed by harpist Michelle Paris, who mainly performs in Malta and the U.K., and guitarist Beck Seunghoon.
Following the ceremony was the K-Harmony Festival at 3 p.m. The festival featured messages of encouragement from veteran honorary reporters and K-influencers to newcomers; “Webinar Golden Bell,” a quiz show about Korean culture; exemplary videos from the TikTok Challenge; and a webinar drawing session of KOCIS mascot Kocnuni.
KOCIS held an online festival featuring a wide range of Korean culture through non-contact programs through the week of May 26.
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