Vivek Sharma
Korean Cultural Centre India organized India’s largest Korean culture festival,Rang De Korea,at Ansal Plaza in New Delhi,as a festival event to conclude the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and India in 2023.
The event was hosted by the Ministry of Culture,Sports and Tourism of Korea and organized by the Korean Embassy,Korean Cultural Centre India, and Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.
H.E.Chang Jae-bok,Ambassador of South Korea to India inaugurated the event in the august presence of Mr. Saurabh Kumar,Secretary East Asia,Ministry of External Affairs.
Ambassador Chang Jae-bok at the inauguration said, “This golden jubilee prompted our embassy to set three key goals earlier this year.
First,we aimed to significant increase in high-level interactions to deepen our special strategic partnership.
Second,our focus was on fortifying the foundation of Korea India economic relations.
Third,we emphasized our fostering people to people contacts as the bedrock of our bilateral relations.
Throughout the yearlong celebration,we successfully achieved these goals.
President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime minister Narendra Modi held 2 bilateral summits discussing corporation in high tech fields,defense industry and economic relations and more.
High level visits of ministers and foreign secretary level further solidified the relationship set against the backdrop of 50 years of diplomatic ties and India G20 presidence.
Economic corporation has thrived with Korean businesses,like Samsung LG,Hyudai, Kia etc making significant contributions to India’s growth.
Currently more than 500 Korean companies are investing in India and bilateral trade reached the record high of almost 28 billion US dollars last year,and the trend will continue this year and onward.The interest in our respective cultures like we witnessed today.
Mr.Saurabh Kumar,Secretary congratulated the embassy and the KCCI,for reaching out to India and strengthening the people to people relationship between.
He said ’Republic of Korea is providing support to infrastructure projects in India.Also,India has seen steady growth in different areas of cooperation including defense.
The two countries are now also members of new frameworks which provide further and fresh avenues of cooperation.
In September this year,we had the honor of hosting the president of ROK Mr.Yoon Suk Yeol,in India for the G20 summit.
Prime Minister Modi and President Yoon had a fruitful and friendly meeting.Their discussions have provided us with guidance to take our relationship further ahead and to deepen this very important relationship.
This year we also hosted several Korean ministers, senior officials and representatives.We are greatly appreciative of the support to be received from the ROK for a G20 presidency.
The event largely consisted of a representative Korean performance stage,a Korean cultural experience program, and the experience booths showcasing various Korean products whose market size is growing increasingly thanks to the Korean wave in India.
At the gala event night.J.I Arts Troupe,recreated Namsadangnori,one of traditional Korean festival culture,and performed various traditional Korean performances such as Pansori(musical storytelling art), tightrope walking,Pungmul(musical play),Beona (plate spinning).
The Gwangtal,a fusion performance troupe that reorganized Korean traditional mask dance (Talchum) with modern media,lighting technology grabbed all attention and X:IN,a K-Pop multinational girl group that produced the first Indian member in K-pop history was one of the most attracting part of the evening.
The evening also had experiential booth where Korean Wave in India was showcased through the participation of Korean companies operating in India.
From leading Korean brands such as LG,Hyundai,Kia, Orion,Atomy,Innisfree,Sulwhasoo,Laneige,Etude,and CJ to other Korean companies building brands in India such as Korikat,Sazaxa,and Dalgrak were also seen participating.
Korean cultural experience booths and programs, including comparative experiences of Korean and Indian food,wearing Hanbok,spinning tops and Beonas, striking tombstones,and making Jokduri(Korean traditional female coronet),Cheongsa lanterns, traditional lucky bag was presented.
In particularly J.I Arts Troupe,one of the invited performance groups,presented Korean festival contents such as tightrope walking performance at the outdoor event venue.
Hwang Il Yong,Director of the Korean Cultural Centre India said,We prepared this festival event with the intention of concluding the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Korea-India and to further develop the relationship of friendship and trust between the two countries and move forward together toward a shining future.
The ‘Rang De Korea’ (combination of Hindi and Punjabi) festival event, which attracted great success and much interest in 2022, is blooming in India.We hope that it will become a cultural festival brand that comprehensively showcases the Korean wave in India.
Perhaps thanks to the last year’s great success and interest of Rang De Korea,the event information post posted on our official Instagram account for this year’s Rang De Korea,Korean Culture Festa event exceeded 400,000 views in just two days.
