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 three highlighted stories posted by such reporters last week.
By Hong Kilju and Lee Jihae
The fourth week of January fell right before Seollal (Lunar New Year), so several Honorary Reporters wrote about the holiday. One wrote on the exchange of Seollal gifts in Korea and another was about how a Japanese woman married to a Korean spent her first Lunar New Year. An Egyptian also wrote in Arabic and English about attending a Jan. 20 meeting in Cairo, Egypt, of compatriots who promote Korean culture on the occasion of President Moon Jae-in's trip to the Arab nation.
■ How Lunar New Year gift sets in Korea and China differ (Bai Ruo Jing from China in Chinese)
Honorary Reporter from China Bai Ruo Jing's favorite Seollal gift set is gotgam (dried persimmons) made in Fuping County of China's Shanxi Province. (Bai Ruo Jing)
Honorary Reporter Bai Ruo Jing from China, recalling when she received a gift set of daily necessities from a Korean friend for Lunar New Year, wrote an article on Korea's distinct gift-giving culture on the holiday. She called the beef gift set "a type of present unseen in China" and one featuring traditional Korean tea and snacks a "very Korean-style gift."
On gift sets of haemultang (spicy seafood stew), anchovy stock and maeuntang (spicy fish stew), she said, "We cook stew in China, too, so stew sets are also common gifts in China." Saying canned abalone and gotgam (dried persimmon) are also common gifts in China during the holiday, she added, "The differences between Korean and Chinese gift sets reflect the cultural differences between the two countries."
■ New Year's customs in Korea and Japan (Kimiko Murayama from Japan in Japanese)
The picture on the left is of Kimiko Murayama's charyesang (table of food for an ancestral rite) at her parents-in-law's house and the other shows the tteokguk (sliced rice cake soup) that her mother-in-law made. (Kimiko Murayama)
Honorary Reporter Kimiko Murayama from Japan, who is married to a Korean, discussed her first Lunar New Year in Korea and compared the Korean and Japanese ways of celebrating the new year. She said people in Japan tend to relax on the holiday but often prepare osechi (traditional New Year's food) the day before and minimize housework on the new year's day.
In Korea, however, people tend to prepare a hearty amount of food on Lunar New Year's Day as families gather to celebrate, she said. Murayama explained charye (an ancestral rite) culture and the rules of preparing charyesang, or the table of food for the ritual. She also explained tteokguk (sliced rice cake soup traditionally eaten on the day), sebae (bowing to elders), sebaetdon (monetary gifts for bowing) and traditional Lunar New Year games. "As time passed, the food preparation procedure for the new year has been simplified in both countries," she added. "In both Japan and Korea, however, women in the past worked a lot to prepare food for the occasion."
First lady Kim Jung-sook on Jan. 20 poses for a photo with Korea.net Honorary Reporters from Egypt at the hotel St. Regis Cairo in Cairo, Egypt. (Cheong Wa Dae's official Facebook)
The event "K-culture, colored with the Nile" was held on Jan. 20 in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. There, first lady Kim Jung-sook met 10 invited Honorary Reporters and K-influencers (YouTube content creators specializing in Korean culture) from the Arab country. Writer Salwa Elzeny interviewed other participants and covered the event, having joined Korea.net as its first Honorary Reporter from Egypt in 2016.
Back in 2020, the first lady mentioned Elzeny and her twin sister Esraa attending the Honorary Reporter induction ceremony in Korea. The writer recalled this moment, saying she "was very happy" and felt that her "dream finally came true" when she talked with the first lady, adding, "I will always remember this day."
kalhong617@korea.kr
