Chua Guan Cheong
BRUNEI-MUARA

THERE are more to South Korea than its highly-iconic and strongly-flavoured dish kimchi and the East Asian country’s nationals in Brunei are ready to show and share more of their traditional and pop culture to the locals through “Hallyu”.

The “Hallyu”, translated as “Korean Wave” in English, refers to a sudden surge in interest towards Korean culture during the late 1990s. The term was actually coined by the Chinese media during that period following a sweeping influx of Korean culture and media products across Asia and other continents.

“The Hallyu”, stretches from Korean TV dramas, movies, pop music, celebrities to Korean food, fashion, tourism and others.

The Koreans certainly have no qualms about taking kimchi to the international stage, as shown by the Korean Embassy in Brunei using kimchi-making as the highlight to the finale of the Korean Language and Culture Week that ended on Saturday.

The “Kimchi Ladies” for the day were the spouses of Korean diplomats and Embassy staff led by Park Min Jung, wife of Park Il, the Counselor and Deputy Chief of Mission, and Kim Kwi Ri, wife of Consul Kim Jong Pil.

But aside from kimchi, “Hallyu” is slowly inching its way to local awareness thanks to various Korean dramas being shown on television.

The Korean ladies expressed their suprise when they saw Korean dramas on Bruneian TV. The main surprise, however, is that the TV network kept the dialog in the dramas in Korean, and only provided Malay subtitles.

Park then spoke of her wish that Bruneians also get to know new Korean culture instead of just traditional Korean culture. She said people always look at Korea as a traditional Asian country, but they also need to see the “new Korea” that is being presented to the world.

She said Korea was also leading the fashion trend of electronic products like cell phones, and the B-Boys (breakdance) has also gained fame worldwide. The whole media industry is merely depicting what is part of a colourful and diverse Korea.

Park said Koreans in Brunei were grateful to the affection shown by the locals on Korean culture, and they were hoping to reciprocate this by learning more about Bruneian culture, and also sharing more Korean culture with the people of the Sultanate.

The 2009 Korean Language and Culture Week is co-organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and the Universiti Brunei Darussalam’s Language Centre.

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