The seventh team of Korea.net honorary reporters poses for a photo after its launch ceremony at the Foreign Press Center Korea in Seoul on Jan. 23.
By Min Yea-Ji and Kim Young Shin
Photos = Jeon Han
Seoul | Jan. 23, 2017
Korea.net Honorary Reporters from across the world have gathered in Seoul.
The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) held a launch ceremony for its seventh team of Korea.net Honorary Reporters in the briefing room at the Foreign Press Center in Seoul on Jan. 23. A selection of 33 Honorary Reporters from 19 countries attended the event to receive their letters of appointment.
In total, the seventh team of Honorary Reporters consists of 270 people from 55 countries, 116 more writers and bloggers from 13 more countries compared to last year’s class. Also, until last year, they were only able to blog or write in English. Starting this year, however, the team can promote Korea in nine languages: English, Simplified Chinese or Mandarin, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Vietnamese.
Another noteworthy change to this year’s team is that there are more members who work for the media. There are 18 Honorary Reporters from 16 media outlets in 14 countries, including Wada Takashi, a sports writer from Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun, and Yasser Alabnwy, an editor of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh.
Director General Kim Sung il (left) of the Korean Culture and Information Service and Anita Emefa Hato, one of this year’s Honorary Reporters from Ghana, pose for a photo after she received her certificate of appreciation, during the launch ceremony in Seoul on Jan. 23.
Majid Mushtaq from Pakistan, who has been an Honorary Reporter since 2015, welcomed the new embers, saying, “Korea.net is the best platform on which to share what you love about Korea.”
After the ceremony, the team headed to Gangwon-do Province.
There, they will visit the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center and the Gangneung Ice Area to promote two of the Olympic host cities, Pyeongchang and Gangneung.
Their articles can be found at Korea.net (www.korea.net), at its blog in English (www.koreanetblog.blogspot.kr), through Korea.net’s official Facebook profile, “Korea Clickers,” and on Korea.net’s profiles at YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and Youku. Korea.net will soon also open a VKontakte profile for its Russian readers.
Presidential Secretary for Foreign Press Shin Jee-yeon delivers her congratulatory remarks during a launch ceremony for the seventh team of Korea.net Honorary Reporters on Jan. 23.
jesimin@korea.kr
