GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

Gangwon Province will hold the K-POP Festival in Gangwon 2013 next month, to attract domestic and international visitors.

The festival is hosted by Gangwon Province, Visit Korea Committee and Wonju City, and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization.

The event will present K-POP cover dance of K-pop fans around the world.

Cover dance refers to individuals covering K-pop stars’ choreography, songs and style.

Through online preliminaries with 1,250 teams from 61 countries and overseas finals in Asia, Americas, Europe, Africa and Oceania, 84 foreigners in 14 teams from 14 countries advanced to the Grand Finale in Korea.

The top K-pop artists, including Kara, U-kiss, and Dalsherbert, will also perform in the festival.

The festival is expected to draw more than 2,000 foreigners.

Gangwon Province plans to invite the finalists to introduce its tourism attractions, cultural heritages and the Wonju Dynamic Festival and appoint them as ambassadors of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

A K-pop concert held in the Alpensia Resort, Pyeongchang in 2011 drew about 10,000 domestic and foreign visitors.

Head of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Bureau of Gang Province Shin Man-hee noted that the K-POP Festival in Gangwon 2013 will serve as a good opportunity to promote the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and tourism in Gangwon, adding that the province will develop tourism products in association with the k-pop concert to attract domestic and foreign visitors and contribute to the regional economy.

Source: Yonhap News (Aug. 29, 2013)

** This article was translated from the Korean.