By Charles Audouin
Video = Park Daejin

Thirty-eight directors of Korean Cultural Centers (KCC) and culture and information officers based abroad have gathered in Seoul to devise new strategies to expand the global reach of Hallyu (Korean Wave).

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism from March 10-13 hosts the annual meeting of such officers at KOCIS Center and the National Museum of Korea in Seoul to discuss how to further spread the Korean culture and content boom.

On opening day on March 10, a meeting chaired by Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Chae Hwi-young discussed the ministry's key policy direction and shared results, tasks and plans of KCCs. Their directors explained each center's plans for the year and shared model cases among them.

The KCC in Osaka, Japan, from Sept. 13-14, 2025, held the K-Music Festival featuring the genres of jazz, rock, hip hop and electronica and received favorable responses. (KCC in Osaka)

The meeting also selected the six best KCCs of 2025.

Reopened last year, the KCC in Osaka, Japan, hosted about 90 events to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Korea-Japan ties and ran the Korea Pavilion at the World Expo in Japan's No. 2 city.

The center received positive responses from Osaka residents by hosting a music festival for Korean pop, the Osaka Korean Film Festival, literary event with invited authors, talk program featuring Korean and Japanese publishers and bookstores, and lectures on Korean culture.

Its unique programs also included workshops on the dialects of Busan and Jeju Island.

Greatly boosting the number of new visitors were customized programs such as a webtoon exhibition and a program for men on brewing traditional Korean liquor.

Kim Hyesoo, head of the Osaka center, said, "We sought to introduce aspects of Korean culture hard to access in Japan and organized programs reflecting interests of Hallyu fans to provide richer content."

The other five top KCCs were those in Spain, Thailand, Beijing, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Chae Hwi-young (second from left) on March 10 speaks at the annual meeting of KCC directors and culture and information officers based abroad at KOCIS Center in Seoul's Jung-gu District. (Heo Man-jin from Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

Minister Chae emphasized the role of KCCs by saying, "We need to ensure that more people worldwide can experience K-culture and K-content through KCCs and see, feel and experience diverse products like those of food and beauty."

"Another important thing is to have many people exposed to Korean culture to keep thinking of visiting Korea at least once."

Ending on March 13, the meeting will see 47 related organizations in sectors like the arts, tourism, sports, content, food, beauty and fashion take part. Cultural experts will give lectures like National Museum of Korea Director You Hong Jun and former KCC in New York chief Kim Cheon-soo.

Operating in 42 locations in 35 countries, KCCs and cultural promotion centers are on the front lines of introducing Korean culture to the world and support the country's overseas development assistance for culture and summit diplomacy.

KCC directors and culture and information officers on March 10 pose for a group photo at their annual meeting in Seoul at KOCIS Center in the capital's Jung-gu District. (Lee Jeongwoo)