The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister YU In Chon, MCST) announced that it will host a wide range of cultural events at the 22 Korean Cultural Centers (KCCs) in 20 countries across the globe to celebrate the Lunar New Year, or Seollal. This year’s Seollal events will provide opportunities for people around the world to experience Korea’s traditional New Year festivities, such as sebae (bowing before older relatives), tteokguk (rice cake soup), seolbim (putting on new clothes for Seollal), and traditional games.

Various Lunar New Year events range from traditional food, games, performances and costume to sebae before Korean War veterans, e-sports competitions and cultural programs in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and other institutes.

In Asia, the KCC in Tokyo will organize events that involve sebae, writing New Year’s wishes in Korean and playing various Korean traditional games, while the KCC in Osaka plans to offer programs, such as cooking tteokmanduguk (rice cake soup with dumplings) and learning how Koreans celebrate the Lunar New Year through story books. In Shanghai, e-sports competitions will take place ahead of Seollal at the KCC, along with Korean traditional games and traditional food-tasting experiences. In Vietnam, the KCC will hold events where students of the King Sejong Institute can play five Korean traditional games, including ttakjichigi (a folded paper tiles flipping game), gongginori (Korean jacks), and jegichagi (shuttlecock kicking), and in Thailand, the KCC will organize an event where local students will perform sebae to Korean War veterans to express gratitude for their dedication to the bilateral friendship between the two countries. In the Philippines and India, events will be held for locals to try traditional games and taste tteokguk, among other programs. The KCC in Indonesia will present traditional performances, including samulnori (Korean percussion music with four instruments) and buchaechum (a traditional fan dance), and offer an opportunity for people to try on hanbok for those born in the years of snake among participants in events making bokjori (rice strainers) and cheongsachorong (Korean lanterns).

Europe will also feature hands-on experiences of Korea’s Lunar New Year culture. The KCC in Germany will serve a bowl of tteokguk to participants at Seollal events and teach people how to perform sebae and play traditional games, such as yutnori (traditional board game), gongginori and jegichagi. In Austria, the KCC will hold a Korean traditional culture experience program and showcase K-pop cover dance performances in collaboration with local Korean Wave club Namu Events. The KCC in Hungary will invite local high school students for Lunar New Year cultural experiences, and the KCC in Poland is working together with local universities offering Korean studies programs to host colorful events for their students, faculty and staff to experience Korean culture. In Spain, Italy and Sweden, the KCCs plan to feature hanbok exhibitions and traditional cultural performances, including a Korean string instrument gayageum performance, and hold charye (ancestral rites) for those interested in Korean culture and students in the King Sejong Institute as a way to promote Korean culture in time for Seollal.

A wide range of events will also take place across North America and Australia. In the US, the KCC in Washington D.C. is set to host the Korean Culture Experience Week from February 1 (Sat) to 7 (Fri) in partnership with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and other major local cultural and art institutions, offering programs for families and Korean Wave fans to experience Korea’s traditional and contemporary cultures simultaneously. The KCC in Los Angeles will provide locals with opportunities to experience Korea’s New Year customs, such as Korean traditional performances, games and hanbok attire. In Canada, Mexico and Australia, the KCCs will share the warmth and joy of the Lunar New Year with local residents through programs that introduce the holiday, including making and tasting tteokguk, playing traditional games, making fans and trying on hanbok. In addition, the KCC in Nigeria will hold hands-on events involving Seollal dishes and traditional games, while the KCC in the UAE will organize programs, including a six-legged race, tteokguk-tasting and New Year resolution-making activities.

Deputy Minister CHOI Bo Geun for the International Cultural Affairs and Public Relations Office at the MCST stated, “As Korean traditional games, such as gongginori and jegichagi, are gaining popularity across the world after the recent release of Squid Game 2, we have prepared various events with special care to offer firsthand experiences to celebrate the Lunar New Year,” adding, “I hope that these events will serve as an opportunity for local people across the world to enjoy Korea’s Seollal festivities, helping to familiarize them with Korean culture.”