On 7 October, the King Sejong Institute Foundation gathered 181 students of Korean from 71 countries in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi province, for the finals of its speaking and writing contests. The theme was “Korea in my heart”, and the event took place two days before the centenary of the creation of Hangeul Day.
Competition was fierce: the speaking contest had 284 applicants for every finalist place and the writing contest 105. The nine speaking finalists, from countries including India, Hungary, Ecuador, Cuba, Uzbekistan and Iran, gave five-minute speeches, while the 11 writing finalists composed essays dressed in Joseon-era scholars’ attire.
The speaking grand prize went to Marjan Haghi from Iran and the writing grand prize to Nguyen Bao Chau from Vietnam. This year’s invitation programme brought a record 357 participants to the country, who will also visit Gyeongbok Palace dressed in traditional hanbok.
Among the participants is Amira Kamal Mohamed from Egypt, who studies at the King Sejong Institute in Cairo and dreams of becoming a Korean interpreter. She became interested in the language through K-pop and said that, on arriving in the country, she felt as if she were inside a Korean drama.
