Seven thousand foreign aficionados of Korea who promote the country to the world and their original content will gather in one place.
The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS), an affiliate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on Dec. 8 said it will host on Dec. 10 the 2022 K-wave Festival at Exhibition Hall 2 of the Korea International Exhibition Center, aka KINTEX, in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province.
A combined 4,834 Korea.net Honorary Reporters from 122 countries who informed the world about Korea this year and 1,856 K-influencers (foreign promoters of Korean culture) from 103 countries will attend the event.
Prizes will go to the top 10 Honorary Reporters and top eight K-influencer teams comprising nine people.
One outstanding Honorary Reporter is Minnath Azeez from Sri Lanka, whose articles on designers around the world who express Korea’s indigenous beauty had the most views in English-speaking regions. Among K-influencers, Vanessa Hernandez Gusmao from Mexico stood out for her funny and touching video of her challenge to cut a bamboo tree after learning the traditional swordsmanship art Haidong geomdo.
The winners of Talk Talk Korea, a global online contest of Korea-related content that received 46,632 entries in eight themes this year, will be announced and 160 award-winning pieces of content will be displayed at the festival.
The festival contains abundant content for both Koreans and expats in Korea and those abroad. Between the award ceremonies will be congratulatory performances by Solji, lead vocalist of the K-pop girl group EXID, and traditional minyo (folk song) singer Choi Eun-bi. The embassies of Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Colombia and the Dominican Republic will run booths for global cultural exchange to introduce the culture of each country.
Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism