Over the last seven years, the Korean Cultural Centre India (KCCI) has organised events like a K-pop contest and school events for propagation of Korean art and culture and way of life in India.
Ahead of the opening of Queen Huh Memorial Park in Ayodhya, being built in memory of the Korean queen, KCCI Director Kim Kum-Pyoung gives us more details.
Queen Huh-Hwang-ok was a princess of Ayodhya who had travelled to Korean province of Gimhae in 48AD and married its king, Kim Suro.
Excerpts:
What facilities does the KCC in New Delhi extend to its friends in India?
The facilities of KCCI have been created in a way that our Indian friends can have a wonderful cultural experience in an informal way, and avail of opportunities to express themselves, learn and grow together.
We have an exhibition hall, library, King Sejong Institute (Language Institute), Taekwondo room and Dalgrak (Korean Cafe).
What role does KCCI play in strengthening the bond between India and Korea?
We would like to encourage the youth of both the countries and promote bilateral relations by helping the two nations to understand each other.
For this, we annually organise quiz, essay and painting contests. Around 100,000 students pan India participate in the contests and have an opportunity to learn, research and explore the history, culture and society of Korea.
We are also pursuing our goal of introducing Korean in India and Hindi in Korea as second foreign language in the curriculum respectively.
Please tell us about KCC and Indian School Partnership Programme in detail.It is a cultural bridge between India and Korea to experience and explore Korean culture through various activities like tour program, Korean folktale performances, musical performances and workshops etc. We also initiated Korean language in schools.
An example of our school partnership programme is ASN Senior Secondary School, in partnership with Jeonnam Foreign High School, Korea since 2015, visiting each other every year. We hope to build strong friendship between both the countries.
Does KCC extend language courses as well?
KCCI has a language institute called King Sejong Institute. We have around 287 students this semester at different levels.
We are also supporting Korean language education in Indian universities. In 2018, the Korean language course was opened in IGNOU.
We are also supporting Manipur University. KCCI is now planning to extend the support to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University in Ayodhya.
How does one sign up for the Taekwondo class at KCC?
You can call 011-4334-5000 for more information.