Global Korea

Global Korea I

K-Beauty
Event

Osaka, Japan

As part of Korean Culture Day, the Korean Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE) held a K-beauty event at Chayamachi Plaza in Osaka, Japan, with the famous Korean YouTube content creator Calary Girl.

Co-sponsored by KOFICE and the MBS (Mainichi Broadcasting System) Hallyu Club, the event marked the club’s designation as a beneficiary of the foundation’s 2019 Overseas Hallyu Community Activity Support Program. The club comprises MBS staff interested in Korean culture and has organized lectures and exchanges between Korea and Japan for nine years.

In demonstrating the best ways to apply makeup, Calary Girl introduced techniques for an array of skin types, and also explained how to make faces look smaller and what kind of cosmetics to choose depending on individual skin tones. The audience showed an enthusiastic response as her demonstrations with volunteers were shown on a large screen. One visitor said, “There was plenty of useful information that we will definitely apply to our own makeup,” adding, “It was beneficial as we could not only watch but also experience Korean cosmetics firsthand.”

Drumming Up
Interest
in Argentina

Cordoba, Argentina

The intense sound of traditional Korean drums by Group Tago, which specializes in traditional Korean percussion, captivated Argentina on Oct. 12.

Group Tago’s performance closed the 12th Festival Internacional de Teatro Mercosur at the performing arts theater Teatro Real in Cordoba, Argentina, to great success. The troupe’s performance evoked an unprecedented standing ovation and endless cheers from the audience of more than 600, a reaction usually reserved for K-pop bands.

In addition to traditional percussion instruments like the janggu (hourglass-shaped drum), buk (shallow barrel-shaped drum), jing (large gong) and ggwengari (small gong), Group Tago also introduced its own instrument invention yulgo (literally “a drum with tunes”) to play the rhythms of both East and West in playing traditional and modern Korean music. The 70-minute show, mixing comical and theatrical elements, enabled the audience to experience firsthand heung (excitement), an important aspect of Korean culture.
The Argentine daily La Voz gave major coverage to the band’s performance, as did other offline and online media such as Perfil and Infobae.

Global Korea II · Written by Korea.net Honorary Reporter Bakhodirjon Komilov from Uzbekistan Photo courtesy of Korea.net

Interview with invited
Honorary Reporters at
‘Talk Talk Korea’ Awards Ceremony

“Talk Talk Korea 2019” grand prize winners pose for a photo with Honorary Reporters at the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju.

The awards ceremony for “Talk Talk Korea 2019” on Oct. 24 was hosted by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) at the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju. “Talk Talk” is an international competition for Korea-related content and the winners each received a five-day trip to Korea, with the ceremony held on the second day of their visit.

The seven grand prize winners whose entries beat out the 32,519 submitted attended the ceremony, as well as two invited Korea.net Honorary Reporters: Nerea Ramirez Castilllo from Mexico and Mohamed Salaheldin from Egypt. To honor the latter two, seven fellow Honorary Reporters including myself attended this ceremony.

I got to interview Nerea Ramirez, 28, who has been an Honorary Reporter for Korea.net for more than a year. She said that to her, being an Honorary Reporter is an essential part of her life and that reporters make history by covering current events and writing about people, what happens on the streets and other issues in society. “I decided to write in the pursuit of one day becoming a great writer such as Gabriel García Màrquez,” she said in her acceptance speech at the ceremony.

She has focused on history, especially Korean immigration to Mexico, and martial arts, as she practices taekwondo. This was her first time in Korea after having written many articles on the country and its culture. Though all of her articles have been written in Spanish, she said she hopes to eventually write in English. Her dream is to be part of a drama production in Korea, even if she performs a small job like bringing coffee.

The other invited Honorary Reporter, Mohamed Salaheldin, has written articles for Korea.net since last year. His nearly 24 stories have mainly focused on Korea’s international situation, like peace on the Korean Peninsula. Working as a senior digital news editor for Extra News TV in Egypt, he gave his acceptance speech at the ceremony in Korean, saying he wants to be a Korea expert.

We went on a tour of the Asia Culture Center and had the chance to make new connections with fellow Honorary Reporters. That day, I promised myself to enter “Talk Talk Korea” next year and win a prize. I also encourage everyone to participate in the contest.