Many parts of the world these days are focusing their eyes on things Korean and on both Korean mass media and traditional culture.

The trend can be seen by the number of entries received in the “Fall in Love With Korea” contest, an event hosted by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS), part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and publisher of Korea.net. The contest was held from July 21 to August 20 and invited people from around the world to submit self-created content that was somehow related to Korea. The categories covered photography, videos and comic strips or graphic novels.

KOCIS received a total of 4,272 entries from 117 countries around the world. Among the submissions were photos featuring hand-made Hanbok, traditional Korean attire, and video clips of war photography from the Korean War (1950-53). There are also some videos of people singing and dancing note-to-note to their favorite Korean pop or hip hop song.

A list of the participating nationalities might come as an eye-popper. Entries came not only from Asia, but also from Africa, the Middle East, the U.S. and Europe. Even areas that are comparatively unknown in Korea, such as Aruba in the Dutch Antilles, Andorra in the Pyrenees, Bhutan in the Himalayas, Eritrea in the Horn of Africa and Iceland, all made an entry into the competition.

The Philippines submitted the most entries at 672, while Indonesia ranked second with 502 submissions. They were followed by Malaysia (411), the U.S. (313) and Iran (134).

Even Israel and Palestine, two bodies in conflict with each other, and, in particular, Syria and Ukraine, both suffering from warfare, contributed to the event, with 11 or 12 entries each.

A total of three grand prize winners were recognized: one in photography, one in videos and one in comic strips. There were then 30 second-place prizes and 50 third-place prizes given out. Among the second-place winners, 15 of them were recognized for their excellence and creativity in video-making, 10 for photography and 5 for their comic strips. In third-place, there were 25 videos, 15 photographs and 10 comic strips.

The first-prize winning video clip is the creation of Maria Jose Belen Gonzalez Vielma, a 22-year-old Chilean student, titled, “Why I Like Korea.” She said she started learning Korean at the age of 12 when she fell in love with Korean soap operas and telenovelas. As she made friends with a Korean family in her hometown, she got more interested in things Korean. In the video, Vielma sang in fluent Korean, “I Miss You,” by Kim Bum-soo, part of the sound track from the popular 2003 soap opera “Stairway to Heaven.”


Among the second place video entries were ones by Stephanie Teresa Kraaijkamp from Sweden and Abraham Lagares from Puerto Rico.

Kraaijkamp’s creation was credited for the way in which it applied some clips from entertainment shows in a creative and excellent manner, while Lagares’ was recognized for the way in which it captured the everyday use of Korean-made products in Puerto Rico, as well as heroic deeds from the Korean War.

Last year’s winners, sisters Eman and Nur Esseileh from Palestine, came in third this year with their creative co-production. “We gained a lot of courage and we smiled all the time while working on this,” said the sisters, who shot a video despite the fierce ongoing warfare in their part of the world.

Among other prize winners, there were videos featuring a group of cheerful Rwandan students, a family emulating some hilarious gags from the popular comedy show “Gag Concert,” and a guy rapping in Korean.

The photographs that won first place are all images captured by the lens of Iran’s Roshana Moslemzadeh.





Moslemzadeh put her love for Korea and anything Korean, including traditional Hanbok attire, food and pop music, into a collection of her own photos. She took pictures of herself keeping close to Korean culture throughout her day-to-day routine, such as making a Hanbok of her own and cooking bulgogi, a style of grilled marinated beef, and instant noodles with her sister.

The winner of the comic strip contest was Magdalena Malachowska with her brilliantly drawn, “How Did I Fall in Love With Korea?”


While writing her thesis eight years ago, Malachowska stumbled upon a music video that featured the five-member boy band TVXQ. The video changed her life completely, as she says in her graphic novel.

Because of those five cute boys, she fell in love with Korea and everything about the country. She resumed drawing and painting, a hobby which she used to have. She says in the comic strip that, “Because of them [the five cute boys], I am trying to make my dreams come true.”

The three prize-winning works will be turned into two commercials and five special advertisement broadcasts that will be aired on the English-language TV channel KBS World sometime in the middle of the month.

Amid this great amount of attention from audiences around the world, the second round of the “Fall in Love With Korea” contest will start October 1. Under the theme of, “Discover Korea in My Country,” the contest will invite people to share any image or story concerning Korea that they can get in their own country. Content eligible for entry can include anything that's the least bit "Korean," whether it be memorial sites, Korean pop concerts or promotional events, or even Koreans overseas who are engaged in cultural exchanges. Any piece that introduces the charms of Korea and its culture are acceptable.

The three first-prize winners from the "Fall in Love With Korea" round and the three winners of the "Discover Korea in my Country" round will all be invited to come to Korea for four nights and five days. During their time here, they will attend some of the year-end KBS music and drama award ceremonies. They will continue to get a wide range of experiences during their stay here, too, when they hit the tourist attractions and historical sites, all part of the various cultural programs and samplings of Korean cuisine that are planned for them.

Finally, their trip to Korea will be documented on film and will air on KBS World early next year.

By Wi Tack-whan, Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr