Korea Caravan comes to Alexandria

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Reem Molokhia

Photos = Autumn Mitchell and Reem Molokhia

I had the privilege of attending the 2017 Korea Caravan at the Library of Alexandria and spoke with Ambassador Yun Soon Gu, the Korean ambassador in Egypt, Reda Eltayfi, the former Egyptian ambassador in Korea, and with Park Jae Yang, the head of the Korean Cultural Center in Egypt.

An entire week of Korean stuff was hosted in Egypt's second biggest city. The initiative was a response to the enormously growing interest in Korea, in Korean pop music and in Korean TV shows. There has been a huge demand by Korea enthusiasts for more attention to be paid to the avid fans in Alexandria.

The week started with a screening of four Korean movies at the Liberty Center for Creativity in Alexandria, a gallery of Korean pottery, a display of traditional Hanji mulberry paper and other side events. 

At the end of the week, the finale of the Korea Caravan took place at the library, starting with a Korean tea tasting ceremony, a display about Korean investments in Egypt and a virtual reality (VR) tech station. 

A lecture by Ambassador Yun followed, in which he demonstrated the various similarities between Korea and Egypt, such as a belief in family values and traditions, filial piety and generous hospitality. 

He previewed a presentation about Korea’s modern economic development and the so-called "Miracle on the Hangang River," a phrase that describes the astounding rapid growth that Korea underwent from the 1960s to the 2000s.

Korea now ranks 26th in terms of national competitiveness worldwide, and keeps on developing and competing with other countries. 

Korea also ranks second in the world in terms of investments into scientific research. Ambassador Yun indicated that the amount of trade between Korea and Egypt has hit $1.7 billion. He also said that Egypt is one of the heaviest promoters of Korean products, and that there are about 20,000 Egyptian workers working at Korean offices in the country. 

During a press conference, Ambassador Yun said that Korea seeks to promote education in Egypt by establishing two Korean engineering departments, in addition to implementing more Korean language programs. 

When I asked Ambassador Yun about future projects for increasing Korea-Egypt tourism at both ends, such as direct flights, guided tours and halal restaurants for Muslim visitors, he confirmed that it's in their future plans to increase investment and promotion for tourism between the two countries, since there are many pilgrims and tourists who enjoy visiting Saint Catherine’s monastery in Egypt, as well as other historical landmarks.

In the hall, a beautiful performance of traditional Korean gugak music was played by Seoul National University’s musicians. The performance depicted the calm and harmonious nature of Korea. Every single audience member was enjoying the soothing music. I felt as if the music had teleported me back to Korea in the 1400s, surrounded by green mountains and beautiful fields. It was impressive.

Lastly, the anticipated moment for all the K-pop fans, a Korean pop music talent show started, and Egyptian contestants performed a variety of songs and dances from their Korean stars. The fans arrived early and eagerly waited outside for the doors to open and for the competition to begin.

The hall was filled with resounding cheers from enthusiastic fans of the different K-pop groups, all of them encouraging the contestants. During the break, eager audience members chanted for more and happily sang and danced to various K-pop songs that played on the big screen in the front.

Fourteen contestants took part in the K-pop World Egypt competition. The first prize went to Shaymaa Ali for her distinguished selection of Lee Sun Hee's song "Destiny" that perfectly matched her voice. 

Ambassador Yun congratulated the winners as he handed them their prizes, all part of a festive celebration as the contestants were overjoyed with their trophies.

 wisdom117@korea.kr 

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