CHO Kijoung, the South Korean consul general to Erbil, said during the Third Korean Culture Festival in Erbil that “This year’s festival holds special significance.”
The first edition of the festival was held in Sulaimani in 2018 and the second one was celebrated in Erbil the following year. The third festival was postponed to this year due to the spread of Coronavirus.
“This year’s celebration is a great occasion to witness the perfect combination of Kurdish culture capabilities and Korean cultural content. I am very happy to see [that] famous Korean cultural contents are interpreted and introduced by the Kurdish cultural teams,” Kijoung added.
“The key word to the promotion of culture is the promotion of diversity. In this sense, I hope that today’s event will provide you with an excellent opportunity to taste a different tradition and a different lifestyle,” he noted.
The Korean drama Squid Game actors performed and Korean traditional dance and music were played in the event.CHO Kijoung, the South Korean consul general to Erbil, said during the Third Korean Cultural Festival in Erbil on Tuesday that the promotion of diversity is the key to the promotion of culture. pic.twitter.com/haGYl7KXTS
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) July 25, 2023
Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw said during the festival that a large number of civil servants in the Kurdistan Region have received training in South Korea in the past. "It has been very effective."
In an interview with Rudaw, Kijoung addressed bilateral ties between Erbil and Seoul, similarities between Kurds and Koreans, and the increasing number of Kurdish youth learning the Korean language and being interested in Korean culture.
Seoul and Erbil have enjoyed great relations for nearly two decades.
In 2016, South Korea upgraded its diplomatic mission in the Kurdistan Region from an embassy office to a consulate, and has since 2015 provided donations to the IDPs and refugees in the Region.
When coronavirus spread in the Kurdistan Region in 2020, Seoul provided testing kits to Erbil. The country has also trained 1,500 Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials in Korea.
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