“Feel Korea in India,” the 2016 South Korea–India Culture Festival, which went on for two days from November 18 to 19 2016, came to an outstanding end in Pragati Maidan, India, where the largest trade expo in the country was held. It was estimated that almost 10,000 spectators took part in the festival including outside visitors who could not enter the festival plaza.

“Feel Korea in India,” which was sponsored by the Korean Culture and Information Service and the Korean Cultural Center in India, organized by the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, and the result of an explosive demand for Han Wave, confirmed in ”Feel Korea in New Delhi” held in 2015, the first comprehensive Han Wave concert in India, that it is a two-way culture exchange festival to be held in accordance with the South Korea–India Joint Communique (May 18, 2015), which was concluded when India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, paid a state visit to South Korea in 2015.

The opening part to which Shubhra Singh, the president of IPTO; Satish Sharma, the chairman of the Korea–India Friendship Exchange Association; Robinder Sachder, the president of the Korea–India Friendship Association; and Srimati Aruna Vasudevan, the founder of the Asia Film Promotion Organization as an Indian VIP took part, along with Jo Hyun, the Korean Embassador to India; Jae-Won Choi, the section chief of the Korean Culture and Information Service; Geum-Pyeong Kim, the chairman of the Korean Culture Center in India; Byung-Sun Lee, the regional director of the Korea Tourism Organization; and Sang-Su Ku, the chairman of the Association of Korean Residents in India as a South Korean VIP, enhanced the mood of the exchange and cooperation between the two countries by carrying out a huge bibimbap event for 300 people. 

This festival displayed a total of 26 programs transcending South Korea’s traditional and modern times led by K-Pop, the representative Han Wave, overwhelming 10,000 spectators. The “K-Stage Zone,” which played a leading role in this festival, provided spectators with a sense of tension as top-class artists in each field performed. The festival began with the performance of the World Taekwondo Headquarters, exhibiting the prowess of Taekwondo through three-step smashes in the air and disciplined kicks, as well as the performance of Ongals, which combined beatbox, juggling, and magic, setting the table in a roar.

One day before the official festival (November 17, Thursday), Ongals participated in social contribution activities at NIV, an art school located in Noida, the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The event conducted a signboard-hanging ceremony in commemoration of the desk and chair support project and the classroom extension construction to which about 150 local children took part as well as carried out an exchange ceremony in which paper necklaces carefully made by students were exchanged with the candy necklaces prepared by South Korea, making the event more meaningful.

The performance of Ongals presented as a talent contribution made a lot of children laugh over and over again. Aruna Mathew, the principal of NIV, stated, “Our students said that it seemed like a miracle when they saw desks and chairs installed at the school one day before the event. Today’s program seems like a miracle,” confirming how important the culture-oriented social contribution activities are.