First lady Kim Jung-sook (middle) on May 20 gives a congratulatory speech at the 2021 Induction Ceremony of K-influencers and Honorary Reporters at the Multi Content Testbed of Korea Creative Content Agency in Seoul's Dongdaemun-gu District. 

By Kim Eun-young and Lee Jihae

Photos = screen shots from Korea.net's official YouTube channel

First lady Kim Jung-sook on May 20 attended the 2021 Induction Ceremony of K-influencers and Honorary Reporters at Korea Creative Content Agency's Multi Content Testbed in Seoul's Dongdaemun-gu District, encouraging participation in the event both on- and offline.

The event coincided with the 14th annual Together Day, which was designated to promote diversity and multiculturalism given the rising foreign population in Korea. The ceremony welcomed the 11th class of Honorary Reporters and the second of K-influencers comprising 4,656 foreign specialists promoting Korean culture from 112 countries.

Second Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jeong-bae and Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) Director Park Jung-Youl also attended the event.

A combined 3,432 Honorary Reporters from 105 countries were appointed, along with 1,224 K-influencers from 76 states. They will produce written or visual content that promotes Korea for Korea.net, the Korean government's multilingual portal.

This was the first lady's third appearance at the annual ceremony. She quoted Honorary Reporter Cao Thi Huong from Vietnam as saying in an article, "Koreans act to make good things happen rather than waiting for good things."

"I hope the promotional experts of Korean culture become messengers of hope and communicate and create solidarity worldwide." the first lady added.

"There is another virus we must overcome in this era of isolation and blockade (due to COVID-19). We must stop discrimination against and hatred of regions and races. Now is the time to comfort and support each other."

In 2019, the first lady invited newly recruited Honorary Reporters to Cheong Wa Dae on Together Day. She sent a congratulatory video message for last year's induction ceremony for the reporters, and has continued supporting them.

Participants in the 2021 Induction Ceremony of K-influencers and Honorary Reporters on May 20 joined the event "Fill in Your Korea" on a webinar to authenticate their certificates of appointment. 

This year's ceremony was held under the theme "Fill in your Korea." Two Honorary Reporters and two K-influencers attended in person to minimize interpersonal contact, sharing their experiences in promoting Korean culture.

Huong, formerly a journalist for Vietnam's public broadcast network, did real-time reporting at the ceremony. Jang Ipek Damla from Turkey said she will share "honest aspects of international marriage" about life with her Korean husband in Korea.

Katarzyna Helinska from Poland gave an introduction to kimchi and Maziyar Farbod from Iran discussed his hosting of a Korean culture festival in Tehran.

Forty Honorary Reporters in a webinar joined a ceremony for authenticating their certificates of appointment via livestream on Korea.net's YouTube channel. Fans of Hallyu worldwide viewing this event live shared their opinions through comments.

And a video with a congratulatory message from the girl group LOONA, this year's promotional ambassador for KOCIS, was also shown.

eykim86@korea.kr