South Korea’s cultural foray into Nigeria

Culture, a set of beliefs, customs, practices, and social behaviour of a particular people is the element of the people which expresses their life in the ways most peculiar with them but which may be distorted in the media, in which case what gets to the outside is often not the real picture of a […]

Culture, a set of beliefs, customs, practices, and social behaviour of a particular people is the element of the people which expresses their life in the ways most peculiar with them but which may be distorted in the media, in which case what gets to the outside is often not the real picture of a people.
A young Sudanese super model Alek Wek who lives abroad once had to charge at the international media over her ancestral people, “Don’t just show pictures of starving children. That’s not all there is. I saw people struggling to survive and making it. I saw families holding together. I saw kindness and beauty, not just bombing and death. I heard beautiful stories, but that’s not what the media shows us. I want to go back there again someday. It’s a beautiful country and it has an amazing culture and history. If you are going to tell a story, tell the whole story.”
For reasons such as this, for the failure of foreign media to tell the story of a people as it is, or for deliberate attempts by the media to publish only the ugly stories of a people, authorities strive to promote the knowledge of the culture of their people to other nations in several formal ways.
South Korea’s fledgling cultural centre in Abuja is planned as a vehicle for cultural awareness creation. Jeong sounded in his interview with Sunday Trust that his country wanted to leave nothing to doubt in Nigerians about the cultural heritage of his country.
The Korea Government intends to utilize its centre, especially when it moves into its purpose-built ultramodern complex in Abuja, as a rallying point for culture and art lovers, to showcase Korean cultural heritage to Nigerians and foreign residents. The centre is also intended to harmonise the cultural wealth of both countries. It will serve as a gallery of both Korean and Nigerian art works. It is planned generally to boost Korea’s diplomatic relations with Nigeria and promote cultural exchange programmes between both countries.
 Jeong said it was part of Korea’s deliberate steps to upgrade its overall cultural exchange with Africa because Korea appreciates the deep cultural wealth of Africa, especially as symbolised by Nigeria.
“The Korean Government regards Nigeria as a cardinal force in African culture and the government does so much in Nigeria that it does nowhere else in Africa to prove this,” Jeong said.
The Korean Cultural Centre, though yet to have its intended ultramodern permanent complex, has been in existence since last year. It participated in Nigeria’s 2nd African Arts and Craft Expo which was held in June. Korea stood out as the only non-African country to have participated in that expo.
“Our participation so early in the cultural expo (its second edition) tells you of the depth of our commitment to enhanced cultural relations with Nigeria; we want to take our cultural exchange status to high levels,” Jeong declared.
The cultural centre will exhibit Korean art, films and other cultural artefacts to call the attention of the Nigerian audience to such cultural items. The centre will also feature the teaching of Korea’s martial arts, including taekwondo. It will facilitate the teaching of the Korean language too.
The ultimate idea appears to be the creation of an unmistakeable Korea-consciousness in Nigerians, a prelude, you could even say, to a cultural invasion of Nigeria.
Part of the plan is to endow a chair for the teaching of Korean language and cultural studies in some Nigerian Universities. There is specific mention of University of Abuja which may start the programme next year.
Jeong said he is thrilled about Nigeria because it shares cultural similarities with Korea. “Our countries are similar in many ways,” he said. “We both have rich cultural heritage. We are great sport loving countries and we are good in football, among other games.”
As part of the idea of propagating the Korean brand in Nigeria, Jeong recalled during his chat with Sunday Trust that he invited dancers, singers, drummers and other artistes from Korea to take part in various cultural presentations in Abuja as Korea marked its 2009 National Day late last month. He said the day afforded Nigerians a first-hand viewing of the Korean culture and that it was obvious Nigerians liked what they saw.

The special Korean National Day celebrations in Nigeria which took place at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja Tuesday September 29, was a vibrant day when the colour-loving Koreans presented performers in bright red, yellow, and green costumes which often dominate traditional Korean designs. The performers wore bright colours frequently seen in the Korean traditional dress known as hanbok.
Introducing competitions in the Korean cultural sport, taekwondo, is equally on Korea’s agenda of reinventing broader cultural relations with Nigeria.
Taekwondo, an essential part of Korean culture, is already being extensively practised by Nigerians.  In the official move by Korea to further raise its prominence with Nigerians, Jeong spoke of an introduction of a West African Taekwondo Competition that will involve Nigeria  next year. The initiative will increase activities in this imported sport which has already been so developed that it is in the menu of many educational institutions in Nigeria and Nigerians have long been winning international competitions in it. Chika Yagazie, son of Senator Uche Chukwumerije, won the bronze in taekwondo in last year’s Beijing Olympic Games, eight years after it was added as a competitive sport at the Olympic Games level. The sport has in Nigeria a recognised national professional body, the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), headed by Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State as president.
There is also a move by Korea to build a working relationship in film productions with Nigeria. Unknown to many in Nigeria, South Korea has a film industry that has flourished so greatly in recent years that it has taken the prime attention from American films which once ruled Korea’s cinemas. Korean productions not only dominate the domestic market now, many of such products have won international acclaim.
Especially in the rest of East Asia, South Korean cultural products enjoy large popularity, earning the country the coinage hallyu, which means Korean cultural wave, a wave of popularity of Korean culture cutting across age groups in most Asian countries and some other parts of the world.   This includes show business. When Korean singers and actors visit Asian countries, fans cheer endlessly. Reports quote statistics said to be coming from the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, to the effect that South Korea exported about $2 billion worth of entertainment products last year.
 Now, why the fresh zeal by South Korea to ingrate the Korean culture in the consciousness of Nigerians? Is the country exploring the possibility of preparing Nigeria for Korean cultural imports? It could well succeed at it. It has done well with products of technology. The Nigerian consumer electronics market overflows with Made-in-Korea Samsung and LG products.
South Korea has a homogeneous population which shares a common ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage. Intense feelings of nationalism reveal pride concerning South Korea’s place in the world. South Korean individuals view themselves as a tightly knit national community with a common flourishing destiny.
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia with its capital in Seoul, a large global metropolitan city. The Korean territory has a population of over 48 million people.
Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BCE by the possibly mythical Dangun. Following the unification of Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 CE, Korea went through the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when Korea was annexed by Japan. After liberation and division at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. It is a developed country with a high standard of living.
Only about half the number of South Koreans profess religious beliefs. The fraction consists mostly of Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims. Some minor traditional religions are also practiced in small regions.
South Korea shares its traditional culture with North Korea, although the two Koreas are said to have developed distinct contemporary forms of culture since the Korean peninsula was divided in 1945. South Korea actively encourages the traditional arts and modern forms of cultural practices and inheritance through education programmes
Until the 1990s, trot and ballads dominated Korean music. But the rap group named Seo Taiji and Boys emerged in 1992 to mark a turning point for Korean popular music. The group, also known as K-Pop, incorporated elements of American popular musical genres of rap and rock to widen its appeal locally and internationally.
Korean cuisine, otherwise called hanguk yori, or hansik, has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Ingredients and dishes vary by province, but many significant regional dishes have proliferated in different variations across the country. Korean cuisine is largely based on rice, noodles, vegetables, fish and meats. Like much of the rest of the world, South Koreans make their traditional soups a part of the main course of their meals.
South Koreans have a technology culture, such as online games that are widely played, which is believed to have helped greatly in bringing them to the high-tech technological advancement and economic development that they enjoy at present.