The King Sejong Institute Foundation through late July will hold the preliminaries of this year’s Korean Speaking and Writing Contest. Shown is a scene from the competition on Oct. 7, 2019, at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District, with the event held online both in 2020 and last year due to COVID-19.
By Jung Joo-ri and Kim Hayeon
Photos = King Sejong Institute Foundation
A competition will feature foreign contestants showing off their Korean speaking and writing skills.
The King Sejong Institute Foundation on May 20 said it will host the preliminaries of this year’s Korean Speaking and Writing Contest through late July.
Since 2014, the annual event has been held on May 15, the birthday of King Sejong the Great (1397–1450), to help foreign students of Korean receive a deeper understanding of Korean culture and provide opportunities for cultural exchange. Each King Sejong branch worldwide is holding its own preliminary independently from May to July, and foreign students of Korean who do not attend an institute branch can also enter.
The event has two categories: competition and special section. To mark the 10th anniversary of the foundation, the special section was added to focus on topics about Korean culture such as samulnori (traditional farmers’ percussion music), K-pop, and taekwondo, allowing both individual and group contestants.
The competition section features themes on speaking and writing like “Korean Language and Culture: Similar and Different” and “My Appearance After 10 Years, My Future.”
Those who advance past the preliminaries can participate in the contest’s training for outstanding learners, which will open before and after Oct. 9, which is Hangeul Proclamation Day. The finals will be held during the training period, and the winner will receive the chance to study Korean at a prestigious university in Korea.
Poster for this year’s Korean Speaking & Writing Contest hosted by King Sejong Institute.
etoilejr@korea.kr
