Director Kim Kabsoo of the Korean Culture and Information Service (fourth from right, front row) and the sixth group of Korea.net honorary reporters at the induction ceremony held at the National Hangeul Museum on Dec. 16.
The induction ceremony for the sixth group of Korea.net honorary reporters was held at the National Hangeul Museum on Dec. 16. Of 149 reporters, 18 reporters from nine countries were present at the event as representatives, where they were awarded certificates of recognition from the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS).
“Honorary reporters make Korea.net richer,” said Director Kim Kabsoo of KOCIS. “Please tell the world about Korea through unique and diverse perspectives,” he requested the attendees.
The application to become part of the group of sixth honorary reporters closed on Dec. 2. A total of 149 applicants from 41 nations were nominated as reporters, which marked 75 more reporters from 18 additional nations compared to the previous group. In particular, 38 people applied to become reporters from Egypt, where interest in Korea has been sparked recently.
Reporters who will continue their activities from last year talked about their aspirations for up-coming activities. “I wish to promote Korea through video clips and web-comics,” said Majid Mushtaq, an honorary reporter from Pakistan. In 2016, he visited various places in Korea such as Dokdo Island, Ulleungdo Island, Busan and Tongyeong and introduced Korea and Korean culture.
Elena Kubizki, who has been writing about Korea since she was in Germany through her blog, expressed interest in the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. “I want to report about various Olympic-related events that are held before the actual games,” she said.
Maiya Li, who identified herself as “half Korean and half Kazakh” said “I originally majored in biotechnology but I wanted to find out more about Korea, where my roots are, so I decided to study Korean and global culture contents.” She added, “I’d like to talk about profound topics like history in addition to Hallyu and K-pop.”
An official from Institute of Traditional Korean Food introduces the ‘10 World’s Favorite Korean Cuisine’ voted to be served at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games to Korea.net honorary reporters.
The newcomers also talked about their plans for the coming year.
“There are lots of events related to Korea in Nigeria but not many know about them,” said Ukandu Nnenna, the first Nigerian honorary reporter at Korea.net. “I applied to become a reporter because I want to let more people know about news from Korea.”
Boqiev Ahrojon, the first honorary reporter from Tajikistan, said, “I want to show how beautiful Korea is.” He said that he is planning to present Korea’s nature through photos and video clips.” He also added, “I also want to write articles about Korea’s advanced IT because it is my major.”
Honorary reporters take pictures of ‘10 World’s Favorite Korean Cuisine’ voted to be served to international visitors to the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
The guests were also invited to a luncheon where they sampled five dishes from the ‘10 World’s Favorite Korean Cuisine,’ voted to be served to international visitors to the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games by the PyeongChang Organizing Committee and the Institute of Traditional Korean Food. The reporters tasted grilled dried pollack with rice, triple white kimchi, modern bulgogi, rolled chicken soup and marble rice cakes.
The modern bulgogi dish, a playful yet elegant take on the hamburger, is served with a delicate round of bread, lettuce and a light sauce. Reinard De Guzman, an honorary reporter from Philippines said “It is a unique way of serving Bulgogi and it is one of the best I’ve ever tasted.” Victoria Shangina from Russia, commented on the rolled chicken soup, a dish based on samgyetang, but easier to eat, by saying “It is delicious and it is really easy to eat without the bones.”
Korea.net honorary reporters are composed of multinational group of people who love Korea. They deliver news related to Korea on Korea.net (www.korea.net), the official portal of the Korean government to introduce the country online; The Korea Blog (http://koreanetblog.blogspot.kr/) , a blog in English and Korea.net social network such as Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KoreaClickers), YouTube, Weibo and Youku, as well as their personal social networking sites.
By Kim Young Shin
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Jeon Han Korea.net Photographer
ysk1111@korea.kr
