KSIF Opens a Korean Class for Foreigners in Gyeongbokgung Palace, Celebrating Hangeul Proclamation Day

3 times per week, 15 people per session wear Hanbok and experience Korean language and Korean culture
YouTuber “Korean Unnie” introduces the principles of creation in Korean. Multicultural youths who escaped from North Korea participated in the class on the 8th

▲ Foreign students participating in the 2020 KSI’s Jipheyonjeon Korean class on October 5th take commemorative photos.

▲ Foreign students participating in the 2020 KSI’s Jiphyeonjeon Korean Class.

In October, on the 574th Hangeul Proclamation Day, a Korean language-Korean culture experience event for foreigners was held for three days at Sujeongjeon, the old Jiphyeonjeon site in Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Celebrating Hangeul Proclamation over a week, the King Sejong Institute Foundation (KSIF, president: Kang Hyounhwa) held a ‘KSI Jiphyeonjeon Korean Class’ in collaboration with the Cultural Heritage Administration's Palace Relics Headquarters, Gyeongbokgung Palace Management Office (Director Park Kwan-soo), from 3pm to 5pm for three days on October 5th (Mon), 8th (Thursday), and 9th (Fri).

The ‘KSI Jiphyeonjeon Korean Class’, which was a part of the Hangeul Proclamation Day week-long event from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (Minister Park Yang-woo), was held for the second time, having been inaugurated in 2019. This year, the number of participants was limited to 15 per session in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

At this event, foreigners including residents in Korea, wore traditional Hanbok, sat down at Sujeongjeon, the old Jiphyeonjeon site in Gyeongbokgung Palace, spoke Korean, and had a special experience of Korean culture in person.

Moon So-Hyun, a famous YouTuber whose Korean education YouTube channel has 1,010,000 subscribers, introduced Jiphyeonjeon and the creation of Korean, and took the time to talk in Korean using pure Korean expressions celebrating Hangeul Proclamation Day. In the next session, Mr. Park Sun-kyung, a training assistant for National Intangible Cultural Property No. 22, introduced participants to Korean traditional knots and taught them how to make a traditional bracelet. In addition, there was an exhibition booth for experiencing various educational materials such as Korean textbooks and learning apps developed by the KSIF.

Gabriele Joyce Morgan from Israel, a participant in this event, expressed his love for the Korean language, saying, “Hangeul is easy to learn and is beautiful.” Tanaka Leone from Japan said, “I wore Hanbok for the first time and it was really pretty. I took a lot of photos and had so much fun.”

Meanwhile, North Korean multicultural youth refugees from “Our School,” a school specifically for North Korean refugee youths, participated in the event on October 8th and experienced Korean culture. As most of the North Korean multicultural youths have one foreign parent and were born in a third country, they are not fluent in Korean. Lee Jeong-yeon (pseudonym), a student participating in this experience event said, “I usually talk in Chinese, so I am not fluent in Korean. I want to know more about Korean society and to adapt to it well” and shared his hope to have more opportunities to experience Korean language and Korean culture.

Lee Ha-ri, staff of the KSIF’s institute support team taking charge of the project, said “Cultural exchange is difficult due to COVID-19, but this event was meaningful for experiencing Korean language and Korean culture and for communicating in Korean. It is especially meaningful in that it provided time to communicate in Korean not only for foreigners in Korea, but also for multicultural youth who need Korean education, such as North Korean multicultural youths.”

Content of the event will be posted on the “Online King Sejong Institute” (www.iksi.or.kr) online Korean learning platform and the KSIF's YouTube channel(www.youtube.com/learnteachkorean)