New Zealand Hangeul School Opens Korean Cultural Festival Inviting Local Residents

[Anchor]
In Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, the Hangeul School invited local residents to set up a festival to promote our culture.

K-pop, which is popular around the world, is also popular, but the exciting samulnori performance served as a good opportunity to promote our traditional culture.

Reporter Lee Jun-seop of Auckland has the news.

[Reporter]
Samulnori students show off our cheerful rhythm.

Along with various traditional games, booths where visitors can experience calligraphy and etiquette are also crowded.

This is the site of the 'Hanmadang Festival' organized by the 'Oakland Korean School' in New Zealand.

[Yang Seo-yeon / Oakland Korean School student: Today, I learned theft and braided my hair. It was fun to learn. Because I wanted to learn a lot of what I used to do and let my dad know.]

This year, we invited more than 400 local residents to increase the scale of the event on Folklore Day, which was usually a feast only for students.

This event was held with the aim of providing an opportunity to blend with the local community beyond the Korean community.

[Steve, Penney, Thomas, Emma / Local residents: I think the better we understand each other about who we are and what culture we have, the better we can be for those of us who live in the same country.]

At the Oakland Korean School, about 820 students are learning Korean language and culture.

As the second and third generation of Koreans and children from multicultural families are increasingly interested in Korea, their active participation in learning is a great help to the growth of the school.

[Choi Sin-eun / Parents of Oakland Korean School: It's not easy for (multicultural children) to experience Korean culture, but it's good to know how mom lived in Korea and what kind of Korean culture she lived in.]

Along with the popularity of K-pop, interest in Korean culture, which is rapidly increasing, is also contributing greatly to the spread of school awareness.

[Choi In-soo / Principal of Oakland Korean School: More and more students are enrolling in Korean schools to experience and experience K-pop, Korean food, and culture and to promote it to their friends. / As it is the first event, I believe this will be a bigger and more effective event next year as it expands and promotes more widely.]

In addition to expanding exchanges with local communities, Oakland Korean School plans to increase pride in our culture and interest in Korean through various programs introducing Korea.

I'm YTN World's Lee Junseop from New Zealand.