KBS TV Channel Chooses Egypt to Film Korean Language Competition

A delegation of the Korean Broadcasting System ‘KBS’, South Korea’s sole public broadcaster, concluded its important visit to Egypt, which lasted for four days, with the aim of filming a TV show in Egypt on the popularity and spread of the Korean language, in addition to highlight the most important Egyptian monuments.

The "KBS Global Korean Language Competition" program revolves around a series of questions aimed at measuring the contestants' ability to speak and write in the Korean language, in addition to cultural questions. As well, the show offers opportunity to the contestants to show off their talents in areas related to the Korean cultural, in a competitive and fun atmosphere.

The KBS delegation visited Egypt as part of a tour that includes France, Vietnam, and the United States, in the fame of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the KBS network, and the 20th anniversary of the show, which became one of the most famous cultural programs on the KBS network, considering the great spread of Korean culture around the world.

In cooperation with the King Sejong Institute for Korean Language Education, South Korea’s arm that is responsible for spreading and promoting Korean language education, with at total branches of 221 in 84 countries around the world. The program seeks to promote and encourage interest in learning the Korean language while identifying the best learners in the four countries. 2 Winners from each country will participate in the final competition to be held in Korea by September, while the first-place winner will receive a prize with a total value of 1500 USD.

During their visit to Egypt, the KBS channel team filmed the first round of the competition at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, while the Korean Cultural Center in Egypt hosted the second round. 129 Korean language learners applied to participate in the competition from Egypt, but only 68 have qualified to participate in the competition. By the end of the second round two winners have qualified to participate in the finals in Korea, namely Ms. Sarah Bakr and Ms. Mayar Shalaby.

The questions of the competition covered the most important monuments in Egypt and South Korea, in addition to the cultural similarities between the two countries.

Director of the Korean Cultural Center, Oh Songho, said that Egypt comes at the top of the African and Middle East countries in terms of the popularity of Korean culture, whether in Korean cinema and drama or K-pop, and that the demand for learning the Korean language among Egyptian students is the biggest of its kind in the world. Meanwhile, the growing bilateral relations between the two countries witnessed important developments in recent years, the most prominent was the signing of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between the two countries.

The Director of the Korean Cultural Center also congratulated the winners of the competition while praising all participants. He as well, stressed the important role of the Korean language speakers in promoting and consolidating bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Egyptian version of the competition is scheduled to be broadcasted in September on KBS channel, and the finals of the competition will be broadcasted on 9th October on the Celebration of Korean Alphabet (Hangul Day).