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 10 most-read stories from these reporters
Korea.net on Aug. 27 held its first online workshop for Honorary Reporters. (Laura Lopez Velazquez)
By Kim Eunhee and Kim Hayeon
Honorary Reporter Laura Lopez Velazquez from Mexico wrote an English-language article on an online workshop on Aug. 27 for Honorary Reporters. Her story was the most read among those by such reporters in the second week of September.
Stories on the workshop remain popular as a related article in English finished second the week before. French-language articles occupied the second and third spots, followed by ones in Arabic and Vietnamese.
The writer of this week's most-read story, Lopez shared tips on writing in her virtual workshop for Honorary Reporters. Her 20-minute presentation received a great response by focusing on article publishing guidelines and ways to insert video clips. Describing her experience in giving the workshop, she said, "I am glad to help many other reporters in their difficulties."
The No. 2 spot went to Honorary Reporter Giulia Zaghini from Italy for her French-language article on the exhibition "Korea: Cubically Imagined." Held from July 6-16 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the event featured the performance of K-pop sensation BTS at its concert "BTS: Map of the Soul On:E" and the National Museum of Korea's exhibition "Royal Procession with the People."
The exhibition was jointly hosted by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the department for cultural diversity convention of the UNESCO Secretariat and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) to commemorate 2021's designation as "International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development" by the United Nations.
Zaghini lauded the inclusion in the exhibition of leading Korean cultural content like the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" and K-pop, calling experiencing Korean cultural heritage and history in virtual reality "a great attraction."
The exhibition "Korea: Cubically Imagined" was held from July 6-16 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
■ Review of Park Chan-wook's 'Vengeance' trilogy (Solene Catella from Italy) in French
Another Honorary Reporter from Italy, Solene Catella, had the third most-read article with her French-language article on director Park Chan-wook's "Vengeance Trilogy" of films: "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" (2002), "Oldboy" (2003) and "Lady Vengeance" (2005). "Park Chan-wook, a pioneer of Korean revenge and thriller movies, creates visually stunning and breathtakingly violent dramas and leads his audiences to a vivid and unrealistic world," the writer said.
■ Let's go on a walking tour of Seoul! (Yasmina Mekkaoui from Algeria in Arabic)
Reflecting on her own experience, Honorary Reporter from Algeria Yasmina Mekkaoui ranked No. 4 with her Arabic-language article on a walking tour she went on in Seoul and recommended sites to visit. "Korea's advanced technological and transportation infrastructure makes it convenient for tourists to walk and travel," she wrote. "As one of the safest countries in the world, Korea is a perfect place to do a walking tour day and night."
The writer also gave tips on accommodations near the tourist sites to ensure an efficient walking tour.
Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul's Jongno-gu District is great for walking tours thanks to its well-preserved Hanok (traditional houses) that date back to the Joseon Dynasty. (iclickart)
A Vietnamese-language article as part of a project assigned by Korea.net last month to Honorary Reporters was the fifth most-read piece. Writer Thai Huong compared the Declaration of Independence of Korea with Vietnam's, saying, "While under colonial rule, Koreans and Vietnamese never gave up the opportunity to regain their independence," adding, "The declarations of both countries show the significance of independence in development while living free and the search for happiness."
Articles sixth to 10th are in the list below (name, nationality and language).
6. Exhibition showing commonalities of Moscow and Seoul (Anastasia Vasilyeva from Russia in Russian)
7. Introducing 3 table tennis players at 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympics (Ena Sofia Azcona Castillo from Mexico in Spanish)
8. British expat promotes Hallyu via Korean food on obscure island (Ana Claire Hernandez from Philippines in English)
9. 2 Egyptians make sweet and spicy Korean fried chicken (Mai El-Hattab and Aya Elhadidy from Egypt in English)
10. Alternative music group talks success after hit tourism campaign (Safae Lagdani from Italy and Madonna Youssef from Egypt in English)
enny0611@korea.kr
