2020 모꼬지 대한민국, 언택트로 한류를 선도하다
As part of its new Southern and Northern policies, the South Korean government is ramping up efforts to spread the Korean Wave as far and wide as possible.
And to accomplish this, it has designed an online platform where K-POP stars and fans abroad can interact with each other virtually.
Our Han Seong-woo went behind the scenes to look into how this is done.
K-pop idols are helping promote Korean culture through 2020 Mokkoji Korea, an interactive online platform.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange introduced the platform in October.
COVID-19 might have put a halt to concerts abroad, but it hasn’t stopped 2020 Mokkoji Korea from reaching out to fans overseas. The organizers have been interacting with fans online with live streaming sessions, avatar shopping events, and even virtual fan meetings with K-POP idols.
Mokkoji means "social gathering" in Korean and the project looks to introduce foreigners to the Korean way of life.
"2020 Mokkoji Korea wants to show the world how diverse Korea is... that it's not just about K-POP. Our goal is to familiarize foreigners with Korean culture and make it more approachable."
The platform features different K-pop idols each week, and this Tuesday's special guests were boyband Teen Top.
Their efforts were focused on fans from Kazakhstan.
"With the pandemic, it's impossible to meet fans in-person nowadays... but we're delighted that 2020 Mokkoji Korea has enabled us to at least interact with them virtually."
The idol group did a live-streamed Q-and-A session with some performances and tried out Kazakh cuisine for fans around the world, before mingling with around 50 fans in Kazakhstan on Zoom.
Similar events are scheduled for fans in Myanmar and the Philippines in the months ahead.
2020 Mokkoji Korea will run until the end of January.
Han Seong-woo, Arirang News.
