Ambassadors from the Portuguese and Lithuanian embassies, officials from other embassies in Seoul and foreign press were all able to encounter a real-life honorable Confucian seonbi scholar recently in a Hanok home in Seoul.

On April 27, this year's second "Hello, Mr. K!" concert, a series of performances that introduces Korean artistic traditions to non-Koreans living in Korea, was held at the Korea Furniture Museum in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. At the event, the audience was able to listen to music played on traditional Korean instruments like the gayageum, the daegeum and the geomungo. Then began a fashion show that brought to the stage a colorful array of Hanbok outfits. The show was structured around the daily life of a Joseon era seonbi scholar.



At the event, some 70 foreign embassy officials and reporters took pictures on their phones and talked among themselves between the various acts.

Hanbok designer Park Sul-nyeo, director of the fashion show, said the event was "a good opportunity for non-Koreans to learn about the way of life for Joseon's honorable Confucian seonbi scholars. We modernized the Hanbok pieces and staged the show in a story format so that non-Koreans could better understand our ancient customs."

By Jeon Han, Lee Hana
Photos: Jeon Han