The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOIS), a wing of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is hosting Korean culture festivals in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan from Apr. 20 to May 1, in ways to enhance Korea's brand image through promoting its quality culture.
The Central Asian region is becoming more and more important internationally, with its abundant resources and high growth potential. The region is also inhabited by 320,000 descendents of Korean migrants, and has a close historical connection with Korea.
Central Asia is important for Hallyu (Korean Wave) exports, too. The Silk Road running across the Asian continent is widely considered to play an important role of transmitting the cultural vogue, already popular in East Asia, to Europe. The central Asian region could be a great place for Korean and Middle Eastern culture to meet, according to KOIS.
On many streets of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan can be seen Korean automobiles and cell phones. Korean foods, Korean dramas, such as Jewel in the Palace and
Winter Sonata, and even Korean-style apartments are gaining popularity in those countries.
KOIS expects the two-week long festivals, which will take place in the four cities of Tashkent, Astana, Almati and Ashkhabad, to shoot up interest in Korean culture, with a good many events - traditional percussion performance, B-boy dances, Korean movie screening, and traditional and modern Korean food displays.
The festival will not only promote ethnic Korean communities in the region, but also foster Korea's friendship with her strategic partners, which abound in natural resources, KOIS said.
According to KOIS, the cultural events have been planned through cooperation between the Korean and local governments, and local artist groups are also encouraged to partake in the events.
The Kazakhstani city of Almati, in particular, declared the last week of April as "Korean week" and is now busy with preparations for a variety of cultural events, said KOIS.
By James Ro
Korea.net Staff Writer
