By Honorary Reporter Ghada Mohamed Ali from Egypt

How much do Egyptians love K-pop and K-dramas? For me, I started to love such dramas from the airing of the first such series on Egyptian TV, "Autumn in My Heart" in 2004 and "Winter Sonata" in 2005. My passion for Korea and all things Korean, from the culture, food, traditional music and costumes to cosmetics, gradually increased after watching many K-dramas regardless of genre. And thousands of other Egyptians love K-pop and K-dramas even more than I do, and many of them gathered for the big event "Kpopers Day."

This event was the biggest in Egypt for Hallyu featuring K-pop and dramas as well as Korean food and beauty products. It was held at the River Club in the governorate of Giza on Feb. 1 this year, and also in other governorates like Alexandria (Feb. 8), Mansoura (Feb. 15) and Ismailia (Feb. 22). The event organizer was Gems Mega Store, an Egyptian seller of Korean products based in Giza.

More than 10 stores selling Korean products including Gems participated in the event with a variety of Hallyu products. One such store, Jaaem, demonstrated an app for ordering anything directly from Korea and showed videos of K-pop groups and K-drama teasers in Arabic. I had seen Jaaem in November last year at the event K-Creative Content hosted by the Korean Cultural Center in Cairo.


The event had a section for random dancing to K-pop songs by groups such as BTS and Exo. Several competitions were also held for attendees. For example, Jaaem allowed visitors who installed its app on their smartphones to spin a wheel for prizes. And those who filled out a survey on K-pop, K-dramas and their services could get free coffee or a chocolate bar.

The products offered at the event included figurines of and accessories related to K-pop group members and celebrities; posters and other stationary; jewelry and clothing; comic books; food and drinks; and cosmetics such as sun block, hand cream and facial masks.

The event concluded with a game to choose the winner of the grand prize, a BTS album.

More than 1,000 people attended Kpopers Day, and it was great meeting others with the same passion for Hallyu.


wisdom117@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.