On Friday 11 September, a Korean Festival took place in the Grote Kerk in The Hague from 11.00 – 21.00 hrs. The Korean Embassy hosted this large-scale event to experience Korean culture at the Korean Festival. The Ambassador H.E. Seok-in Hong was very pleased to bring this special celebration for the first time to The Hague.
The festival featured a wide range of programs, including a Korean Cooking Finalist competition, Kukkiwon Taekwondo performance, Korean Jazz and Korean classical performance, K-pop dance performance, lucky draw and many more cultural activities. All the performances were well received by all those present. In the Grote Kerk was a big screen showing Korea in all his aspects.
There were also Korean companies participating to promote their products and services, like KIA, Sempyo, Samyang, Foodberry, etc.
Visitors could enjoy various cultural experiences, like photo zones, Korean food, snack, and dessert market booths, traditional souvenir workshops, calligraphy experiences, cocktails, beverage and tea experiences, game booths, etc.
I enjoyed the spectacular performance of the Kukkiwon taekwondo group, jumping and spinning in the air, they could easily break the hardboards with their feet. The audience admired the athletic group of youngsters with their amazing show and they received a big round of applause. The Ambassador of Korea, H.E. Seok-in Hong who was present felt very proud of this performance.
At the Korean cooking competition, the most tasteful and colorful dishes were prepared by the finalists, it was hard for the jury to select the winners.
There were many booths with traditional Korean food and I ate a dish named Bulgogi (stir fried beef and rice) and this with a special Korean cocktail, it was very tasteful.
The whole day long, many persons visited the Korean Festival, there was a free entrance, and I am sure that the Embassy of Korea is happy with the big turnout and I hope that this will be organized again next year. I can all advise you to attend this Korean Festival as to experience the Korean culture in all aspects.
Written by Nanda Jagusiak-Monteiro