UCC festival for everyone

At the annual international UCC festival hosted by KU, seven finalists from the 80 videos submitted were announced.

The Korean Language Center at the Institute of Foreign Language Studies, Korea University, hosted the 16th Annual International Korean UCC Festival in Inchon Memorial Hall, Korea University on Friday, November 3, 2017. Before the festival, foreigners interested in Korea and the Korean language were encouraged to submit videos they produced themselves based on their Korean language competence. Among the videos submitted, those high in artistic value and creativity were selected for awards. A total of 80 videos from 34 countries were submitted this year, and seven were selected as finalists.

Hikyoung Lee, Director of the Institute of Foreign Language Studies (IFLS), welcomed the festival participants by saying, “I hope today’s event will be a chance for all of you to understand other cultures by watching creative and touching videos sent from various countries around the world.” As she declared the festival open, she said, “I want this festival to become a place for cultural exchanges between Korea and the rest of the world.”

Kyongjun Chang, Chief of the Korean Language Education at IFLS, walked the audience through the history of the UCC Festival in his welcoming speech. “The Korean Language Center has also gone through numerous changes. When it first opened its doors to students, we only had hundreds of applicants. Currently, we have approximately 3,000 students per semester who come to our center to learn the Korean language.” As he expressed how delighted and thankful he was to host such a meaningful event, he said, “I hope everyone enjoys it.”

The videos from the seven finalists were played after the introduction of the panel of judges: Geon-sik Park, producer at Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC); Oh-ki Kwon, Secretary General of King Sejong Institute Foundation; Chungsook Kim, professor at Korea University; Se-chang Lee, actor; and Kyongjun Chang, professor at Korea University.

For their 10-minute UCCs, the participants were asked to choose one of the following two topics: “The One Who I Want to Meet” or “Let Me Introduce Where I Live!” To be specific, those who chose the first theme were asked to make a video about a famous Korean or a Korean acquaintance, and the second theme asked participants to make a video introducing the country they live in or their living environment. To the video of each finalist, the audience gave a big round of applause and passionate responses.

To celebrate the event, congratulatory video messages were delivered from three celebrities; Sam Hammington, Sam Okyere and EXO. Young-chul Kim, a comedian, gave a congratulatory performance and entertained the audience, sharing joyful moments with foreigners who love the Korean language.

The festival, which aims to promote the Korean language and culture as well as to expand the scope of using the Korean language, seemed to succeed in attracting more foreigners to the Korean culture and offering them a chance to have cultural exchanges.