‘Korea Week 2021’ kicks off in Sri Lanka

Korean Ambassador Santhush Woonjin Jeong

The much-awaited Korea Week 2021 will be held in Sri Lanka from 3 to 10 November. 

The week marks the celebration of the unique Korean culture including K-pop, Taekwondo, Korean language,

Korean cuisine, and tourism that Sri Lanka has ever seen. 

From Korea’s food experience to Korean language speech contest, the 10 days will be packed full of cultural events, and exclusive opportunities to help Sri Lankans immerse themselves in Korean gastronomy, tourism and culture. Admission to all events is free of charge.

This year, the Korea Week will take place with a mixture of online and offline events. All the offline events will comply with COVID-19 health guidelines in accordance with Government regulations. The online events are brought to your doorstep on virtual platforms to be enjoyed by a diverse audience, allowing you to partake in the cultural journey from the comforts of your homes through the digital immersion of Korean culture.  

An exciting lineup of events is especially designed for Sri Lankans to enjoy Korea and experience the culture, cuisine, music and tourism of Korea in Sri Lanka. 

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea is inviting all those interested to access social media handles to enjoy the week of amazing cultural experiences. They are Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyK794y0v4JUVByumpfpWDw; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/korembsl/; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/korembsl and Twitter: https://twitter.com/korembsl.

The Embassy and the Kandy King Sejong Institute Center will hold the Korean Speech Contest in the form of video submissions and winners will be awarded many valuable prizes. The online contest is open to the public until 10 November.

The Korea Food experience, Mukbang, also online and open to the public will be on until 10 November whilst all Korean Restaurants in Colombo will also join in the celebration.  The online event will feature K-pop fans and SNS supporters in Sri Lanka. With the growing popularity of Korean food, Sri Lankans can experience unique Korean dishes by famous Korean restaurants in Colombo to celebrate all that's great about the food culture of Korea.

Another facet of the week is promoting tourism into Korea with Colombo Public Library hosting a Korean Corner on 3 November. The Embassy will hand over educational material including books and videos to Korea Corner, located at the Public Library with the aim of enhancing the Korean language education in Sri Lanka. At the Korea Corner, Korean books and videos are available at free of charge. Korean language classes are also offered for those who are interested in learning Korean language. 

Additionally, virtual tours to Korea; Daegu and Jeollanamdo will be offered from 5 to 8 November at the Colombo City Centre. The Embassy has organised a virtual tour to Korea in Daegu metropolitan city and Jeollanamdo province.

Various exhibit zones of Korean tourism photography to introduce the charming Korean landscapes, a ‘hanbok photo zone’ (life-sized photo cutouts of traditional Korean costumes) and a zone to design beautiful Korean handcrafts will be organised at the ground floor of the Colombo City Centre. Participants will enjoy a unique opportunity to experience Korea closer and win valuable prizes by designing Korean handcrafts.

The K-pop Festival Award Ceremony, also part of Korea Week, will be held on 9 November at the Embassy premises. Together with BnS and Channa Wijewardena, the winners of the 2021 K-POP World Festival will be felicitated by the Korean Embassy for their outstanding performances at the K-Pop festival.

Sri Lankans will have an opportunity to learn Korean traditional food (king's food) (online and open to the public) on 10, 17 and 24 November. Based on the food prepared in the famous TV show Dae Jang Geum (Sujatha Diyani), a prestigious chef in Korea, will be virtually demonstrating tutorials on how to prepare a Korean traditional royal feast. 

During Korea Week, to strengthen anti-COVID collaboration with Sri Lanka, the Korean Embassy will also have a handover ceremony of anti-COVID medical items with the Government of Sri Lanka.