Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo on Aug. 26 held a videoconference with the directors of 19 Korean Cultural Centers (KCCs) based in major regions (17 nations*, 19 heads), the second event of its kind this year since the first in May. At the meeting, participants shared their "untact (non-contact)" projects amid the COVID-19 pandemic and exemplary cases, and discussed strategies on promoting the New Korean Wave.

* Japan (Tokyo), China (Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai), France, Germany, Russia, U.K., Indonesia, Spain, Belgium, India, Philippines, UAE, Australia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Nigeria.

Minister Park:"The KCC's role is to console people worldwide suffering from COVID-19."

Minister Park began the videoconference by saying, "As humanity's pain has grown due to COVID-19, the role of culture in alleviating that pain and consoling (people) has become more important. KCCs must fulfill their role of consoling people worldwide suffering from COVID-19 through Korean culture."

"The coronavirus is expected to stay with the world for a considerable time and a non-contact society based on digital technology is drawing closer. So KCCs need to innovate their business so that contact and non-contact can coexist."

Each KCC is focusing on online projects with the acceleration of noncontact society.

The KCC directors at the videoconference said that though in-person activity remains difficult, their online services have grown more active as they swiftly shifted gears toward noncontact projects. Because of these projects, the number of visitors to KCC websites and social media pages rose 38% this year from April to June compared to the same period last year.

Each KCC shared case studies of its noncontact projects. Exemplary cases included ▲the Indian school system's adoption of Korean as a foreign language elective, ▲an online content contest to mark the 30thanniversary of Korean-Russian ties(1.3 million views), ▲K-Food Academy, in which the staff at the KCC in Hong Kong and Korean culinary experts introduced Korean food, ▲and "Korean Movie Night at Home," a U.S.-based event for screening Korean movies online that saw viewership jump nine-fold from the same period last year.

Minister Park: "We need to widely spread Korea's advanced values to the international community.“

Minister Park added, "Korea's economic power and culture have reached the levels of developed countries, yet the international community has yet to properly evaluate us. But Korea's response to COVID-19 has differed from those of other countries in the government's response ability, medical system and advanced national consciousness, and this subject has fueled the rediscovery of Korea.“

"Based on this, KCCs must promote Korean culture by focusing on the spread of the New Korean Wave and wide promotion of Korea's advanced values to the international community."