Abu Dhabi: Residents in Abu Dhabi now have the opportunity to explore and learn about the rich cultural traditions of South Korea after it opened its Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in the capital on Thursday.
South Korea has already opened 28 such cultural centres around the world, with the one in Abu Dhabi becoming the 29th, and the first to be opened in the Gulf Arab region.
The centre will have a variety of cultural displays on Korean traditional clothing and cuisine, and will also include interactive and hologram displays as well as a virtual reality experience.
Among those who attended the official inauguration of the centre was Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, and Kwon Haeryong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the UAE, alongside several other dignitaries from both the UAE and South Korean governments.
“We started to prepare for establishing the Korean Cultural Centre in March 2015 when our President Park Geun Hye visited the UAE … After a one year preparation, today we are here to open the Korean Cultural Centre,” said Haeryong at the inauguration.
“The Korean Cultural Centre will not only introduce Korean culture to Emiratis but will also become the place for Koreans and Emiratis to communicate and create a cultural understanding with each other based on mutual respect,” he added.
The ambassador added that the opening of the centre was a continued sign of the strengthening relationship between the UAE and South Korea.
“The number of Korean residents in the UAE has tripled to 15,000 in five years. Last year, more than 3,000 UAE patients visited Korea to get medical treatment with the annual growth rate of 170 per cent,” he said. “Among Middle East and African countries, UAE ranked first in terms of the number of visitors to Korea, which surpassed 10,000 last year,” he added.
Gulf News also spoke to the director of the KCC, Park Hyo-keon, who said that the centre would consist of two separate floors, with each having a variety of different activities and exhibitions for visitors.
“On the first floor, there is multifunctional hall for musical performances, exhibitions, and movie screenings. Also there is a Korean halal food exhibition room regarding Korean foods and a cooking class,” he said.
“On the second floor, there is a library which has around 2,000 items regarding Korea including books, CDs, and DVDs … Also there are four seminar rooms for various cultural classes such as Korean Language Class, and calligraphy. In addition, there is a cultural room for Taekwondo, Korean music or dance classes,” he added.
Park also stated that one of the goals of the KCC was to have Koreans learning about Emirati culture and traditions.
“The main mission of KCC is not only to introduce Korean culture to the UAE people, but also to strengthen cultural understanding of the two countries’ people. Accordingly, KCC would like to have various events for introducing Emirati culture to Koreans such as Emirati traditional crafts, dancing, arts, and Arabic language,” he said.
“In addition KCC expects that there will be various collaborations between artists of the two countries through KCC such as joint exhibitions, joint performances, seminars, and cultural exchange programmes,” he added.
Centre details
Where: Twofour54 building, first and second floor.
Opening times: Sunday to Thursday from 9am to 6pm. Library is open from 10am to 8pm.
