Today, November 21, 15 years after the establishment of the Department of Asian Languages of the Faculty of Letters in Cluj-Napoca, the first Korean Corner outside the capital of Romania, Bucharest, was inaugurated. It was able to be established with help from the Embassy of South Korea in Romania, Babeș-Bolyai University, Korea Foundation, but also being sponsored by the local Asian food store, Taste of Asia. Books and traditional Korean objects were donated that will be used by the students in the faculty.
The grand event started with a speech in Korean by our Korean lecturer, Kwak DongHun, translated into Romanian by our doctoral teacher, Bija Alexandra. They talked about the Korean department and thanked for the support they received.Their speech was followed by the speech of Consul Shim Eoon-Gyo, Professor Rodica Frentiu (Director of the Department of Asian Languages), Dean of the Faculty of Letters, Rareș Moldovan and Professor of Korean Culture and Literature, Codruța Sîntionean.
Following them, a student from the 2nd year of the Korean language department recited the national anthem of South Korea, Aegukka(애국가) and 6 of her classmates performed, in front of the honoree, a traditional Korean fan dance (Puch'aech um). Puch'aech um was created in 1954 by dancer Kim Baek-bong and was designed by the graceful movements of butterflies and wished to incorporate this beauty into traditional Korean dance. The song they chose was 봄이 온보다 by Ahn Ye Eun. The public was delighted by this representation that brought a little of the authentic Korean atmosphere to Romania.
Finally, the entire opening ceremony moved to the Romanian-Hungarian Library of the Faculty of Letters in Cluj-napoca, where the Korean Corner is set up. In this room, a private K-ART Exhibition was held, entitled The esthetics of Line-moon jar jogakbo by the Korean artist Youngwon Kwon. She exhibited a multitude of her wonderful creations that aroused the interest of the participants to participate in her Korean Traditional Craft One day Class.
The coloring of the materials used by the artist offers a delight to any viewer, because the intense colors and the use of materials of different shapes and sizes presented characteristics of Korean art.
At the Korean Traditional Craft One day Class held by Youngwon Kwon, the participants, together with the students, learned to make Korean lucky bag(복주머니). 복 means luck, and 주머니 means bag. Because the clothes before had no pockets, they created bags in which to store money and valuables, which later became lucky bags. It is believed that if when you receive money from a holiday and store it in these bags, luck and happiness will come. I really enjoyed making this Korean lucky bag, because I remembered the bags I used to sew when I was younger. My lucky talisman will remain attached to my backpack.
The Korean atmosphere was completed by the reception of a delicious Kimbap made by the chefs from Taste of Asia in Cluj-Napoca. The participants tasted it and were delighted with its taste, kimbap being one of the most famous Korean dishes that is made only from healthy and well-dosed ingredients.
Korean Corner is just the beginning of the expansion of the Korean Language Department from Cluj-Napoca that will be useful to current and future students who are interested in learning the Korean language and promoting Korean culture in Romania.
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