By Honorary Reporter Moones Chaharlang Khodarahmi from Iran
Photos = Moones Chaharlang Khodarahmi, Korea Embassy in Tehran and Mohaddeseh Goudarzi

The annual Tehran International Book Fair was held from May 11 to 21 in Iran and attracted 170 foreign publishers and around 50 guests from 30 countries. I visited this Book Fair on May 12.

Publishers from Korea, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Russia and Serbia displayed their books at the event.

A mass of Korea lovers form a crowd at the Tehran International Book Fair around Korean Ambassador to Iran Yun Kang-Hyeon (center in left photo). Uniforms from "Squid Game" were also popular. (May 12)

Moreover, Korea hosted programs and contests for K-pop and Hallyu lovers with the attendance of Korean Ambassador to Iran Yun Kang-Hyeon. He presented gifts to contest winners, and many visitors also took photos with him. 

Many also took photos with the figures from the Netflix smash series "Squid Game."

Children's books from Korea with unique illustrations were also featured at the fair. 

As the fair was held for the first time offline in three years due to the coronavirus, I finally got the opportunity to visit the Korea booth. Furthermore, the Korean Embassy in Tehran shared a variety of Korean books with the audience featuring unique layouts and visual appeal, especially children's books.

The Korea booth displayed items from traditional Korean culture such as traditional instruments like the six-stringed zither geomungo (center in left photo), hourglass drum jeongak jango (right in left photo), barrel drum buk (left in left photo) and traditional costume Hanbok (center and right photos). 

Also, the book displayed elements of traditional Korean culture such as instruments and Hanbok (traditional costumes). Thus after two years of online exhibitions, the well-organized fair returned offline and attracted many visitors.

enny0611@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.