□ Together with the Korean Culture and Information Service of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korean Culture Center in Belgium, KOFICE will host a K-Community Festival at the Forest National arena in Brussels from Friday, October 4 to Saturday, October 5.  
* K-community: Groups of people who are fascinated by Korean culture in general, or by a specific genre of Korean culture, and meet regularly. 

□ The “K-Community Festival,” which KOFICE and the Korean Culture and Information Service started anew in 2019, is aimed at providing an opportunity for Hallyu communities abroad to experience and understand a wide range of Korean culture, and to communicate with each other as they grow and play a leading role in introducing Korean culture.

Hallyu community in Belgium runs Hallyu Wave event

□ KOFICE put out an open call for Hallyu communities in Europe early this year, and in July the five selected K-communities from five countries prepared for various festival events under the guidance of experts in Korea and with K-pop groups.

□ A K-community in Belgium called K-POP Belgium Society planned Hallyu Wave, an event where visitors can try on Korean traditional clothing called hanbok, try traditional Korean paper (hanji) crafts, play traditional games like jegichagi and taekwondo, and participate in fan favorite activities such as K-pop “random play” dances and a Running Man-style game. The Belgian K-community will run Hallyu Wave from noon on Saturday, October 5.

A stage of Korean traditional performances and K-pop

□ From 8 p.m., the K-communities will perform Korean traditional music and dances. Keun Soriro from Poland will perform samullori; Kingdom of Hearts from the United Kingdom will sing minyo, Korean folk songs; Daebak Korea from Germany will perform a buchaechum, Korean traditional fan dance; and DWD Spain from Spain will perform a mask dance. These groups continued to practice for the performances in their home countries after receiving mentoring from experts in Korea. A special performance by a K-pop dance cover team consisting of students enrolled at the K-pop Academy of the Korean Culture Center in Belgium will also be staged.

□ K-pop acts Dreamcatcher and UP10TION will perform next. Then all the performers and the audience will sing popular K-pop songs together.

□ On Friday, October 4, a pre-event to strengthen communication with local Hallyu fans about Korean culture will be held. K-pop group Dreamcatcher will play a game based on their songs’ lyrics in the hangeul class with students of the Korean language and those who signed up for the class at the Multi Hall of the Korean Culture Center in Belgium.

□ KOFICE president Kim Yong-rak notes, “The upcoming festival is meaningful as it was prepared by the K-communities who are introducing Korean culture around the world. I hope it becomes an opportunity to expand the breadth of Hallyu fans’ interest in Korean culture through diverse programs ranging from traditional music to K-pop.”