Director Kim Tae-hoon of the Korean Culture and Information Service (right) listens to an explanation about the winning work of Piper Bo, a 15-year-old from the United States who won the top prize in the category of Korean music and drama at the exhibition of the Global Talk Talk Korea Contest 2018 on Oct. 16. The exhibition opened on Oct. 16 at the Parnas Mall of Grand Intercontinental Seoul in Gangnam-gu District, Seoul.

Director Kim Tae-hoon of the Korean Culture and Information Service (right) listens to an explanation about the winning work of Piper Bo, a 15-year-old from the United States who won the top prize in the category of Korean music and drama at the exhibition of the Global Talk Talk Korea Contest 2018 on Oct. 16. The exhibition opened on Oct. 16 at the Parnas Mall of Grand Intercontinental Seoul in Gangnam-gu District, Seoul.

By Kang Gahui and Yoon Sojung
Photos = Jeon Han

An exhibition to highlight the winning works of the Global Talk Talk Korea Contest 2018 opens at the Parnas Mall of the Grand Intercontinental Seoul in Gangnam-gu District, Seoul today.

The exhibition, scheduled to be held until Oct. 21, is jointly hosted by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Visitors to the exhibition can view a total of 75 winning works in the five categories — Korean food, beauty products & style, songs & soap operas and other, like Hanbok clothes, the Hangeul alphabet and taekwondo — under the theme of “Find Korea in Your Country.”

This year’s contest attracted the greatest number of contestants so far as it received a total of 32,345 works from 146 countries around the globe, proving the growing popularity of the Korean culture boom or Hallyu worldwide.

Winning works are displayed in a digitalized form through LED TVs and tablet PCs. Visitors can also enjoy an on-site event where they can share their favorite works of art to their SNS accounts and receive gifts.

KOCIS Director Kim Tae-hoon (center) poses with top prize winners of the global Talk Talk Korea Contest 2018 after awarding prizes and plaques at Korea House in Jung-gu District, Seoul, on Oct. 16. (From left) Joanita Mutiara from Indonesia, Mariana de la Rosa from Mexico, KOCIS Director Kim Tae-hoon, Piper Bo from the United States, Viktoria Moroz from the Ukraine, and Sarah Perreau of France.

KOCIS Director Kim Tae-hoon (center) poses with top prize winners of the global Talk Talk Korea Contest 2018 after awarding prizes and plaques at Korea House in Jung-gu District, Seoul, on Oct. 16. (From left) Joanita Mutiara from Indonesia, Mariana de la Rosa from Mexico, KOCIS Director Kim Tae-hoon, Piper Bo from the United States, Viktoria Moroz from the Ukraine, and Sarah Perreau of France.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition took place today attended by the winners of the top prize in each of the five categories.

This is the first time for most of them to visit Korea. They held a welcoming ceremony at Korea House earlier in the day before the opening ceremony. After the ceremony, they will explore Korea for five days. Their itinerary includes a visit to the National Museum of Korea, SM Town, a promotional center for the pop music label SM Entertainment, a visit to the National Gugak Center where they will learn how to play a traditional janggu drum, and visits to Gyeongbokgung Palace and Insa-dong in Seoul.

The contest winners will also travel to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju where they will be able to feel the stronger interest of the world in Korea thanks to the inter-Korean summits. Their itinerary and experience in Korea will be made as a documentary video and will be aired worldwide through Arirang TV and the YouTube channel of KOCIS in November this year.

KOCIS Director Kim Tae-hoon said, “I hope denuclearization and a structure of peace can take root in the Korean Peninsula just like the work of animation made by Sara Perreau of France.

“I wish your Korean trip, although a short one, will offer a precious opportunity to better understand Korea and Korean culture by finding various sides of Korea,” he added.

The winning works will also be shown overseas as the exhibition will be held at the Korean Cultural Centers in Egypt from Oct. 21 to Dec. 31 and in Indonesia from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31. The documentary video can be watched online from Korea.net, the official multi-language portal of the Korean Government, and its YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/GatewayToKorea).

kgh89@korea.kr