‘Dress Code’ Gyeongbuk Institution Heads Attend Executive Meeting Wearing Hanbok, "We Are Not a Chinese Ethnic Minority!"

All Participants at This Year's First Expanded Executive Meeting Wear Traditional Clothing

"Integrating Hanbok Content with the Metaverse, a Major Transformation for the Textile Industry"

Executives of Gyeongbuk Province all wore hanbok at this year's first expanded executive meeting and took a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gwiyeol] Why did the Governor of Gyeongbuk Province and the executives all gather wearing hanbok? The dress code for that day’s meeting was hanbok.

Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 16th that it held the first expanded meeting of public institution heads this year at Hwabaekdang on the 15th, and all attendees wore hanbok.

This meeting was held in celebration of Jeongwol Daeboreum, with Governor Lee Cheol-woo and all heads of 28 public institutions and department heads under Gyeongbuk Province wearing hanbok, Korea’s traditional clothing.

In a situation where hanbok was portrayed as a minority ethnic costume at the recent Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony, Gyeongbuk Province responded with a fresh and creative idea.

Gyeongbuk Province explained that the hanbok dress code was established to promote the beauty of hanbok and to foster the hanbok industry as a representative content of Korea beyond Gyeongbuk in the approaching metaverse era.

Centered around Sangju, where the Korea Hanbok Promotion Agency is located, Gyeongbuk Province is a region where representative hanbok fabric material industries such as Andongpo, Punggi In-gyeon, and Sangju’s Myeongju have developed. It is the center of the hanbok industry and also has natural dyeing infrastructure in nearby Cheongdo and Yeongcheon.

Moreover, 7 out of 9 master hanbok artisans in Korea are in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area, making it worthy of being called the ‘Capital of Hanbok’ not only domestically but also globally.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo said, “Hanbok’s value is infinite, to the extent that China’s 1.4 billion people would covet it,” and added, “On Jeongwol Daeboreum, Dano, and Hangeul Day, we hold executive meetings wearing hanbok, hoping that the day will come when hanbok stored in wardrobes and glass cases is brought out into everyday life.”

On this day, there was also a presentation on the ‘Basic Plan for Metaverse Capital Gyeongsangbuk-do.’

Three main directions were presented: profitable metaverse, metaverse attracting people, and metaverse integrating digitally.

To this end, they plan to promote 20 key tasks in four major areas: talent development and industry promotion, cultural tourism revitalization, and creation of specialized service zones.

Public institutions attending the meeting also launched new projects.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo proudly stated, “In the West, pretty clothes are made and people adjust their bodies to fit sizes, but hanbok has a fixed form with jeogori and pants, yet as seen today, it is a flexible clothing culture that suits everyone well.”

He added, “In the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the metaverse, the required value is flexible and integrative thinking like hanbok. Please join forces to promote Gyeongbuk’s cultural identity, including this philosophy, to the world through the metaverse platform.”

Governor Lee Cheol-woo revealed the plan to realize ‘Metaverse Capital Gyeongsangbuk-do’ and requested support from President Moon Jae-in at the ‘1st Central-Local Cooperation Meeting’ held on the 13th of last month, and established the Meta Gyeongbuk Planning Team.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.