K-Pop Competitions held on Friday got the week-long Korean festivities in Uganda underway.
This, was one of the events lined up by Korean Embassy to celebrate the 60 years of diplomatic relations with Uganda.
The upcoming events include the Korean Ambassador’s Cup Taekwondo Competition, Korean Movie Festival and the Kukkiwon Taekwondo Demonstration performance.
The K-pop competitions were held on Friday at Makerere University as many too part in singing and dancing to mainstream music that originated in South Korea and Korea Language speaking competitions.
Taekwondo demonstration by Police club also highlighted the event.
H.E Park Sung Soo, the Korean Ambassador to Uganda, congratulated the winners: “I want to congratulate all the winners. And all those who showed great love and interest. You are the best K-pop singers, Choreographers and dancers in the country.
“This dance brings people together regardless of race, skin color or ideology. Therefore K-pop even though originates in Korea, it is global and enjoyed by the people of the World. Korean language is also rapidly spreading all around the world and that is K-pop, K-Music, K-Food, K-Movies and all.
“I hope you continue showing interest in Korean culture and language and play a pivotal role in changing the society.”
Henry Alinaitwe, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Finance and Administration) at Makerere University commended the people of Korea and encouraged Ugandans to take lessons from the Asian country.
“It’s easy to make friends but its not easy to keep them.
“I can see all of you are young, we want to learn from Korea. Back then during this Country’s independence, I was told that Uganda was at the same level with Korea in terms of development but you can now see the difference. And it’s a big lesson for us to learn from.
“I want to thank them for coming here to teach us some of their ways and encourage us. And we should also learn from their culture. They have a high degree of discipline.”
Seunghee Yi, the Second Secretary at the Korean Embassy said that the events are held to commemorate the 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
He added: “I am very surprised by their performances. It was very good. Ugandans follow a lot of K-pop than most Koreans. I am very impressed.”
The three winners qualified for submitting their names for the World K-pop contest in Korea later this year in October.
