| Izah Azahari |
THE Embassy of Republic of Korea in Brunei Darussalam, in collaboration with Times Square Shopping Centre and Korea Tourism Organisation, officially launched the annual Korean Festival 2018 last night at the Times Square Shopping Centre.
The guest of honour, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Awang Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin attended the opening ceremony along with his spouse, Datin Nurhayana Janis binti Abdullah Lim.
Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Brunei Darussalam Yoon Hyun-bong and General Manager of Times Square Shopping Centre Amal Majidah binti Haji Suhaili were also present.
The event began with the recitation of the Surah Al-Fatihah and a Doa Selamat, followed with a welcoming remark by the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea who highlighted that the Korean Festival has become one of the most important cultural events by the Korean Embassy since 2014. During the past years, the festival has been organised successfully with the help of the Brunei government, Times Square personnel, entrepreneurs in Brunei, fellow Koreans, and everyone who loves the Korean culture.
“This three-day festival is to show various Korean cultural aspects, and to encourage the public participate in the programmes,” said the ambassador.
“This year, once again, we are focussing on tourism promotion.”
The ambassador also noted that she believes this cultural event is a valuable opportunity to build ties, understand each other better, and at the same time, enjoy themselves with great fun, while giving fellow Koreans a chance to remind themselves of their homeland.
In her speech, Amal Majidah said the Korean Festival features fun activities such as Korean painting workshop, Korean food demo and cooking class, tourism promotion, makeup and hair styling show, Hanbok dress-up and photobooth, peanut race, taekwondo demonstration, quizzes and Korean traditional games.
The event was officially launched with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
There was also a special guest appearance by babbling comedians Ongals, all the way from Korea during the launch, who will also be performing tonight at the Jerudong International School (JIS) Arts Centre, and tomorrow, at Times Square Shopping Centre at 12.40pm.