Korea.net has 3,432 Honorary Reporters from 105 countries who share news and stories on Korea in nine languages. They send Korea-related news from their neighborhoods to Korea.net and share articles posted on our site through their social media accounts. The following are last week's ten most-read stories from these reporters.
The Spanish-language story "Korean Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan visits Madrid, teaches Buddhist gastronomy philosophy and values" by Honorary Reporter Romina Marín Vossenberg from Spain was the most read-story by an Honorary Reporter in the first week this month. (Screen capture from Spanish-language section of Korea.net)
By Hong Kilju and Lee Jihae
A Spanish-language article by Honorary Reporter Romina Marín Vossenberg from Spain on a Korean Buddhist nun was the most-read piece by an Honorary Reporter this week.
The story was on the Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan, who gained international recognition after appearing on the Netflix TV series "Chef's Table," and her lectures and gastronomy presentations.
No. 2 was an article in English by an Indonesian on an online workshop for Honorary Reporters held in late August.
The rest of the top five comprised stories in Japanese, Arabic and Vietnamese.
■ Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan visits Madrid, teaches Buddhist gastronomy, philosophy values (Romina Marín Vossenberg from Spain) in Spanish
The Buddhist nun Jeong and the temple food she displayed are gaining interest from vegetarians abroad. Vegetarian-based temple food is served at Buddhist temples, as Buddhism forbids the killing of living things.
She showed vegan foods that cleanse both mind and body at Cheonjinam Temple in Jangseong-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province.
Jeong attended Veranos de la Villa Festival, a cultural festival in Madrid, and visited Mercado de Maravillas, a regional market in the Spanish capital, to showcase Buddhist food. On Aug. 26, she held a lecture titled "Where Does Food Come From?" at the Korean Cultural Center in Madrid that was streamed on YouTube.
The writer listened to the lecture and included relevant details in her article.
The Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan prepares temple food at the Korean Cultural Center in Madrid, Spain. (Madrid city government)
■ My highlights of last month's online gathering of Honorary Reporters (Monthi Rosselini from Indonesia) in English
Korea.net on Aug. 27 held an online workshop for Honorary Reporters to promote communication among them given the difficulty of in-person events due to the pandemic. About 770 Honorary Reporters around the world participated.
The two-hour workshop saw the exchange of tips on writing articles and other information necessary for Honorary Reporters, and participants also held small meetings by nationality afterwards. The writer described the gist of the workshop, calling the event "very useful" for Honorary Reporters.
An online workshop on Aug. 27 is held for Korea.net's Honorary Reporters.
■ Korean travel play is all the rage on social media (Miho Kurihara from Japan) in Japanese
The Japanese-language article "Korean travel play is all the rage on social media" was the third most-read article. Korean travel play is about playing K-pop and eating Korean food in producing an atmosphere of traveling in Korea.
The writer took photos of herself and her daughters enjoying Korean travel play and explained the activity, saying her desire to visit Korea increased afterwards. She said she hopes vaccinations speed up in Japan and to travel safely and freely in Korea soon.
Honorary Reporter Miho Kurihara and her daughters engage in Korean travel play. (Miho Kurihara)
■ Interview with foreign student in Korea with on gov't scholarship (Fatima Al-Awadi from Egypt) in Arabic
Honorary Reporter from Egypt Fatima Al-Awadi's interview with Egyptian student Mohamed Hanafy, a mechanical engineering major at Yonsei University in Seoul who is on a Korean government scholarship, ranked fourth. Every year, the Seoul-based National Institute for International Education selects students for the Global Korea Scholarship, which grants KRW 7 million to KRW 12 million per semester to a recipient.
The article contained tips on earning and the characteristics of the GKS. Hanafy said he faced hardship while preparing for three years to gain admission to a Korean university. And because so many around the world are applying for the scholarship, he added, building competitiveness by participating in a variety of activities is a must.
Egyptian student Mohamed Hanafy is studying at Yonsei University in Seoul on scholarship. (Fatima Al-Awadi)
■ Vietnamese student's experience in getting vaccinated against COVID-19 (Cao Thi Huong from Vietnam) in Vietnamese
No. 5 was an article in Vietnamese and written by Cao Thi Huong, a Vietnamese student in Korea. She wrote about getting vaccinated against COVID-19 in Korea from the perspective of an expatriate, describing the process of making a reservation for her shot and how her vaccination day went.
Huong said the families of international students in Korea were relieved due to the government's decision to vaccinate foreign students. She said the Korean government is striving to leave no one behind in the fight against the pandemic.
Articles ranked sixth to 10th are on the list below.
6) Greek grad student dishes on life in Korea, Yonsei U (Fotini Chatzoudi from Greece) in English
7) What I think of Japan's claim to Dokdo Island (Marianne Chang from Trinidad and Tobago) in English
8) K-musicals spreading around world (Sekine Miki from Japan) in Japanese
9) [Interview] Purpleback (Alexandra Andrienko from Russia and Kateryna Grinko from Ukraine) in Russian
10) Kim Yeon-koung, legend of Korea's women volleyball (Zhang Xinlei from China) in Mandarin
kalhong617@korea.kr