Think your Korean handwriting is good? Give Kyobo's contest a shot
11th Handwriting Contest for Foreign Nationals open through Aug. 17
Kyobo Book Center is inviting Korea's international community to put their Korean handwriting to the test.
The 11th Handwriting Contest for Foreign Nationals is now open, offering participants a chance to showcase their Korean handwriting skills and celebrate the charm of the language — one beautifully written sentence at a time.
The contest encourages participants to write out either a favorite line from a Korean book or lyrics from their favorite K-pop song.
Submissions must be received by Aug. 17. The contest is open to all foreign nationals residing in Korea.
Application forms are available at any Kyobo Book Center location. Participants may also download the form from the official website, then upload a photo of their handwritten entry, or submit it by post or email.
Winners will be announced on Sept. 3, with an awards ceremony scheduled for Oct. 17.
One grand prize winner will receive a Kyobo gift certificate worth 1 million won ($738), and three second-place winners will each receive gift certificates worth 200,000 won.
'Handwriting is a way of conveying the heart beyond language,' a Kyobo official said. 'We hope this contest offers foreign participants a meaningful way to experience Korean culture up close and to rediscover the value of handwriting.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
an hour ago
- Korea Herald
Will Korea's barely-there stand-up scene stir to life?
Netflix tried to launch stand-up comedy in Korea years ago. Here's why it didn't work and why it might work now When Netflix launched its first Korean stand-up special in 2018, the strategy seemed solid. The plan was to sign big-name comedians, tap into their star power, and introduce local audiences to a genre that had taken off in the US. But the jokes didn't land. The debut, 'Yoo Byung-jae: Discomfort Zone,' received a lukewarm response. The follow-up specials, 'Park Na-rae: Glamour Warning' in 2019 and 'Lee Su-geun: The Sense Coach' in 2021, didn't perform any better. None generated the kind of buzz Netflix had hoped for. By 2022, the company had quietly backed away from stand-up in Korea. At the time, Yoo Ki-hwan, Netflix Korea's director of content, said, 'The genre just wasn't familiar to Korean viewers.' But comedians now helping shape Seoul's emerging stand-up scene believe the problem wasn't the audience. They say it was the lack of an ecosystem. Stand-up ecosystem: Small clubs, open mics and live audience feedback In the US, stand-up routines are sharpened in small clubs over years of trial and error. Jokes are tested live, rewritten and tested again. In Korea, the comedians featured on Netflix had almost no experience performing stand-up in front of a live audience. What ended up on the screen were essentially rough drafts. 'The problem was showing untested jokes to the public,' said Song Ha-bin, a regular stand-up performer at Meta Comedy Club in Seoul. 'The best material gets shaped onstage. You have to bomb a few times to find what works.' Kim Dong-ha, another Seoul-based comic, put it this way: 'Just because someone is a comedian doesn't mean they're built for stand-up. It's like assuming a soccer player can jump into a basketball game.' At the local comedy club Meta Comedy Club in Hongdae, performers like Song, Kim and Lee Je-gyu now follow the American model of development. The club hosts shows five nights a week, giving comics a space to try new material in front of real crowds. 'You write something funny, try it in a small room, see what works and cut what doesn't,' Lee explained. 'Then you do it again. And again.' That process seems to be paying off. Online success and its limits Comedians are sharing the bits that work online, and many of those clips are going viral. One of Song's recent routines, about men reluctantly tagging along with their girlfriends to Olive Young, a popular Korean cosmetics chain, has racked up more than 2.4 million views on YouTube. 'The jokes we upload weren't written in one sitting,' Song said. 'They've been shaped by real reactions. Now people laugh online, and then they want to see it live. So they come to our shows.' The comics say they've seen a gradual but real shift in how audiences respond. 'When we started, a lot of people didn't even know what stand-up was,' Song recalled. 'We used to hear things like, 'You can't joke about that in Korea' or 'This format just doesn't work here.' But now, people are more open.' Jang Su-yeon, an office worker in Seoul, is among those Koreans warming up to the genre. 'From time to time, I've come across American stand-up clips with Korean subtitles on YouTube,' she said. 'For a while, it was mostly Korean American comedians, but lately I've been seeing more from white comedians.' She was referring to Matt Rife, whose fan-run YouTube channel, created by a Korean viewer, has more than 90,000 subscribers, with its most popular video clip garnering over 6 million views. 'Honestly, I started watching them because they seemed like a fun way to study English. And over time, I think I got used to the rhythm and style,' she added. Naver blogger Yazidor also shared a similar experience. She and her boyfriend started watching American stand-up clips on YouTube shorts, eventually leading them to attend a live show at the Artzit Comedy Club in Seoul. "Two hours had flown by because we were laughing so much," she wrote. "If you're into stand-up comedy, I definitely recommend seeing it live." Banking on growing signs of acceptance for live comedy, comedian Song is now dreaming bigger. He says he wants to help build a genuine stand-up culture in Korea. 'I want to hear people say, 'Let's go to a comedy show after work,'' he said. 'That's the vibe we're working toward.' Still, challenges remain. Lee noted that many younger Koreans prefer to watch comedy online rather than attend live shows. 'Setting aside time, going to a specific venue, buying a ticket and being expected to drink — that whole model can feel like a barrier for younger audiences who are used to consuming content online and are less tied to Korea's drinking culture,' he explained. 'For now, that (online-to-offline flow) actually works in our favor. But looking ahead, we need to start thinking about how to make live comedy more accessible to them (offline).' ssh@
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
‘Five Vibe' dances on overdrive with tradition, EDM and sweat-soaked power
Charged with raw physicality, 20 male dancers clad in cargo jumpsuits deliver a performance that bites with a steely, industrial edge. Choreographed by Ye Hyo-seung, the National Dance Company's latest production, 'Five Vibe' — which premiered Thursday and runs through Sunday — feels like a cyberpunk fever dream set in a desert. It fuses traditional Korean breathwork and bodily control, resulting in an exhilarating collision of past and future. This also marks a first in the company's 63-year-history: an all-male cast in a genre traditionally centered on female performers. The production highlights the groundedness, power and physicality of male bodies in Korean dance. 'In creating this piece, I wanted to bring the gravitational pull of the body to the stage -- to use acrobatic movement to unleash the full energy of the human form,' Ye said in an interview with The Korea Herald last week. The result is a full-throttle, high-adrenaline spectacle, most of it driven by a rapid tempo. Sweat pours as the dancers vault, roll and plunge across the stage with relentless momentum. The backdrop of a towering wall of speakers pulsates with cyber-industrial energy, conjuring a techno-dystopian future where rhythm and human resilience are equally under pressure. The soundscape, crafted live on stage by music director Song Kwang-ho, melds the visceral thrum of traditional percussion with the synthetic pulse of EDM. 'Five Vibe' is Ye's attempt to distill and reimagine what he considers the five essential elements of Korean dance: line, jangdan (rhythmic cycles), breath, heung (joyous energy) and time. Among them, breath serves as the work's conceptual spine. 'I see breath as the core element of dance,' Ye explained. 'Just as painters use brushes or pens, I use breath to sketch shapes with the body. I may not perform traditional Korean dance per se, but that breath is essential to every dancer.' So there are moments of pause. Ye creates space for a quieter kind of expression: slow, controlled gestures drawn from the vocabulary of traditional Korean dance. A longtime member of the Belgian contemporary company Les Ballets C de la B since 2005, Ye has more recently made a name for himself as an art director for global brands including Hermes, Cartier and Nike. 'I've lived and worked abroad for many years, but it's made me reflect more deeply on what it means to be Korean,' he said. 'I don't see tradition and modernity as separate -- they always intersect. I wanted to present something deeply Korean using the most modern language available.'
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Special performance marking 60th anniversary of Korea-Japan relations lands in Osaka
'The Master's Time, Light and Wind' performed by Korean artists to take place Saturday A special performance marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan will take place in Osaka on Saturday. The National Intangible Heritage Center and the Korean Cultural Center in Osaka are jointly staging a performance titled "The Master's Time, Light and Wind," encouraging the two countries to recognize and value the spirit of craftsmanship. The show, which opened the NICH's annual special production series in April, is an original production that reinterprets the aesthetics of traditional Korean crafts and the spirit of artisanship through dance and music. Among those participating are Park Jae-seong and Kim Dong-sik, who are Intangible Heritage Holders of najeonjang, or mother-of-pearl inlaying, and hapjukseon, a folding fan with layered bamboo ribs, respectively. On the sidelines of the event, about 20 craftworks made by the two artisans will be displayed in the lobby of the venue, offering a chance for visitors to explore the fine detail and beauty of traditional Korean crafts up close.
