270 Foreign Residents in Korea Explore Cultural Heritage... Ogeum Actor Also Participates in Tug-of-War

Overseas Culture Promotion Institute Conducts UNESCO Cultural Heritage Specialized Program

The Overseas Culture and Publicity Agency announced on the 21st that it will conduct UNESCO cultural heritage explorations from this month until November for about 270 foreigners residing in Korea, including creators and diplomatic envoys.

Citizens are experiencing the Gijisi Tug-of-War.
Photo by Yonhap News

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the UNESCO cultural heritage exploration project and the 20th anniversary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Last year, 'Talchum' was registered as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, placing Korea as the world’s second-largest holder of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage (tied with Japan). Accordingly, the event was planned to enhance understanding and interest in Korean cultural heritage through explorations of UNESCO cultural heritage sites and nearby famous tourist attractions.

The program consists of a total of eight sessions, each specialized in experiencing intangible cultural heritage themes such as △Juldarigi (tug-of-war) △Jultagi (tightrope walking) △Pansori △Taekkyeon △Haenyeo (female divers) △Talchum (mask dance) △Ssireum (Korean wrestling) △Kimjang (kimchi-making).

The first exploration is the Juldarigi experience, which also appeared in the Netflix series 'Squid Game.' Thirty-five foreign video creators residing in Korea will visit the 500-year-old Dangjin 'Gijisi Juldarigi Festival' on the 22nd and 23rd. This festival, held from the 19th to the 23rd, has been celebrated in the Gijisi village since the Joseon Dynasty to pray for disaster recovery and national peace.

Participants will visit the Gijisi Juldarigi Museum, watch traditional games and pungmul (folk music) performances, and experience rope twisting. On the first day, they will visit the site where a 200-meter-long rope is made from 30,000 bundles of rice straw, and on the next day, they will observe the process of combining two giant ropes weighing 40 tons into one. Afterwards, they will compete in a tug-of-war match with thousands of residents and tourists.

Additionally, participants will complete various missions such as quizzes related to traditional Korean Juldarigi and creating short videos about the event. All experiences and explorations will be produced as entertainment-style videos and released on the Korea.net YouTube channel.

Participants were recruited through an open call. Christian Lagahit, a Filipino actor who appeared as 'Number 276' in 'Squid Game' and an influencer with 1.7 million SNS followers, will also join.

The Overseas Culture and Publicity Agency will continue with other events such as the Suwon Jultagi experience for U.S. Forces Korea personnel (May), Taekkyeon experience for overseas military attaches at the Korea National Defense University (July), Jeju Haenyeo experience for foreign influencers and resident foreign journalists (August), and a tour of Andong Hahoe Village and viewing of the Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori mask dance performance for diplomatic envoys residing in Korea (September).

Kim Jang-ho, head of the Overseas Culture and Publicity Agency, said, "Due to COVID-19, we have been conducting small-scale exploration events, but from this year, we have increased the number of participants and the frequency of exploration events. Since online content will also be provided, we hope that many foreigners living both domestically and abroad will widely enjoy the fun and value of exploring Korea’s world-class cultural heritage."

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