Foreign influencers and creators who promote the beauty and charm of Korea around the world with their passion and love of Korea will come together in Korea for a grand celebration. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister YU In Chon, MCST) will host the 2024 K-Wave Festival at the Yes24 Live Hall on Saturday, November 2. The event will be livestreamed worldwide via the Korea.net and K-Community Festival YouTube channels[1]. This year, festival will welcome more members of the general public to raise the stature of the award winners.

Korea.net Honorary Reporters and K-influencers with outstanding activities, and the winners of Talk Talk Korea 2024 and the K-community Challenge to be awarded

In the first part of the festival, the K-Creators Awards will announce awards for outstanding Korea.net Honorary Reporters and K-influencers[2] for promoting Korea to the world with their articles and videos, while the international content contest Talk Talk Korea 2024 will present Best Awards in five areas[3]. During the second part, the event will award international Korean-Wave clubs in four areas[4] of the K-Community Challenge that aims to engage with people through Korean culture.

This year’s awardees include five Korea.net Honorary Reporters. Among them is Frenky Ramiro de Jesus from East Timor, who has written in-depth, multi-dimensional stories of visiting in-person hidden gems across Korea. In the K-influencer category, five teams were selected: Aiyaphat Wankawisant from Thailand, in particular, produces entertaining videos introducing the charms of Korean culture in a variety-show format, such as by walking along streets in Korea and engaging in Korean make-up experiences. Talk Talk Korea 2024 will award five individuals, including Gahir from India, who was named in the memes and trends domain for making witty videos that effectively capture the common characteristics of telephone conversations between Korean people. In the K-community Challenge category, a total of four winners – one club in each respective area – include XPLODE from Argentina in Joseon Pop, the Moving Stones from Spain in sogochum, Celestialsteppers from Nigeria in Taekwonmu, and JeogoREELS from the Philippines in Korean food.

The event will showcase the winners’ enthusiastic special stages and  K-pop singers’ congratulatory performances

In addition, the festival will feature special stages by awardees and K-pop artists. This year, Talk Talk Korea 2024 will produce and release its first-ever official theme song “Shining on you.” Along with contests in the five areas, the event held an open competition for creating choreography for the theme song and selected LUMINANCE from Russia as the winner. The Russian team will kick off Talk Talk Korea 2024 with their performance to the theme song, followed by joint-performances in the respective areas between the K-Community Challenge winners and the artists who participated in the K-Community Challenge tutorial videos[5]. The event will also offer celebratory performances by its ambassador WOOAH and other K-pop artists, including EPEX, BEBE and SF9. The outstanding Korea.net Honorary Reporters and K-influencers and the best awards winners of Talk Talk Korea 2024 will be given the winners’ privilege to visit Korea’s local attractions, from Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul to Dodamsangbong Peaks and Gosu Cave in Danyang, and immerse themselves in Korean culture for eight nights and nine days.

Minister YU In Chon stated, “Korean culture has become widely known around the world thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts of overseas K-culture promoters and creators. I am deeply impressed by their passion and creativity for promoting Korean culture,” adding, “Looking ahead, MCST will spare no effort to ensure Korean culture shines across the globe.”