(2nd LD) Park becomes publicist-in-chief for S. Korean culture in Iran

(ATTN: UPDATES with quote of Park; ADDS photo)
By Kim Kwang-tae

TEHRAN, May 2 (Yonhap) -- President Park Geun-hye has become publicist-in-chief for South Korean culture in Iran on the second day of her state visit.

She watched the display of South Korean culture at the Milad Tower in Tehran after two separate meetings with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The event, called K-culture, featured South Korea’s traditional dishes, known as “hanshik,” and Korean traditional dress, known as “hanbok,” and "hanji," the traditional Korean paper.

Hanji is traditional Korean paper that is handmade by processing the bark of the mulberry plant. Before modern times, hanji was the only paper used in Korea. Today, it is used for handicrafts and costumes.

South Korea said it expects its culture to make inroads into Iran as Iranians have interests in South Korea’s traditional culture due to its popular dramas.

The South Korean drama "Daejanggeum," also known as "Jewel in the Palace," hit the highest viewing rate of 90 percent in Iran in 2006, generating the Korean Wave among local people.

The drama -- set in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and featuring “hanshik” and “hanbok” -- tells the tale of an orphaned cook who goes on to become the king's first female physician.

Park also watched a joint music performance by a South Korean band and an Iranian orchestra, as well as a demonstration of taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art.

Iran is home to about 2 million people who practice taekwondo and some 3,500 taekwondo studios across the country.

The performance featured the traditional Korean folk song "Arirang" at the concert hall in Milad Tower.

"I think peoples of the two countries can promote friendship through culture," Park told about 1,600 people, mostly young female Iranians, at the concert hall. "I hope that you will further love South Korean culture and our government will continue to make efforts to ensure that good cultural encounters like this can be made."

Also Monday, South Korea’s culture ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with the Iranian government calling for cooperation, among other things, in cultural matters.

South Korea and Iran agreed to build a complex to promote the Korean Wave in the Middle East country, South Korea's presidential office said Monday, the latest in a series of Seoul's efforts to spread the Korean Wave.

The complex -- tentatively named K-Tower -- will display contents of the Korean Wave and offer Korean and Taekwondo classes, a traditional Korean martial art.

It will also house Korean restaurants and shopping malls for Korean cosmetic products and other South Korean goods, according to Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office.

The K-Tower is to be built by South Korea's public housing developer, LH Corp., and POSCO E&C, the construction unit of the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, on a site to be provided by Iran.

South Korea said the K-Tower can become a hub of the Korean Wave in Iran and help boost sales of South Korean products in places such as Azerbaijan and other neighboring countries.

Iran said it will push for the construction of an I-Tower in Seoul.

South Korea and Iran “agreed to mutually cooperate to establish the K-Tower in Iran and I-Tower in Korea, as a focal point of cultural and economic cooperation between the two countries,” according to a joint statement issued after Park’s summit with Rouhani.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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