Korea and Apeurika are now friends

In korean Africa is pronounced Apeurika and is written this way 아프리카.

Photo credited to the Korean MOFA and KBS World Radio for tape in Arabic. You can see here, Mr. Houcine Sahraoui, ambassador of Algeria in Seoul and Mr. and Mr. Mohamed Ali Nafti, ambassador of Tunisia in Seoul.

Although Korea has established diplomatic relations with many African countries starting the 60s, it was not until recently decades that it started to enhance these relations with the Dark Continent. Well still better late than never no? For instance, Seoul has recently launched a new challenge in an essay to boost the relationship with the African continent. The name of the project is called “friends of Africa”. (a good start, not to mention democracy).  In a meeting held last 27^th of May, which was attended by the honorary ambassadors of some of African countries in Korea, the Korean foreign minister Yun Byung Se conferred letters of appointment to a group of 12 individuals tasked to promote Africa for a period of two years.

Like its neighbor China, it is clear that Korea wantsa slice of the African pie.  I wish this story the success. Korea has the advantage of its trustworthy image that successfully positioned it as an alternative partner. Given the new circumstances the north of Africa is going through, I'll look forward to the results of this new partnership.

[competition] Korean Language Competition round 2

Today was held the 2^nd pre-selection round for the Korean Language Competition that will take place the 1^st of November 2013. About 25 students from both the Korean classes of Manouba Uiversity, and Bourguiba School attended this second round. They were selected from the 1^st round that was launched online back in mid-April. Both the Korean teacher of the 2 universities played the role of the jury.

The students were asked to read two texts; one, they prepared at home and the other, it was given to them today.  For the first text, students have chosen between a dialogue and a lyric of the song “나랑 결혼해줄래” (Will you marry me) of singer 이승기. The second text is this.

Both texts were not easy at all. However the candidates were well prepared and showed a commitment to go to the final round. Too bad, only 8 to 10 students will take part in the finals so let’s wish them good luck and may the best win. 

Only boy in the competition (vivement la faculté de Manouba :p )

PS: all photos are credited to me.

The 6th edition of the Arab Cultural Fesival in Korea

Now, a culture is not only about giving, but also about taking. This extra cultural exchange is what I like the most about Korea. A new event linking Korea to the Arab world is taking place from the 5^th to the 9^th of June 2013. It is the Arab Cultural Festival in its 6^th edition. The new about this session is the Film festival that will be included this year. In menu 9 between films and documentaries will be displayed in the Art 9 movie theater in Sadong-dong, in southern Seoul near Lsu Station.

I can recommend you the movie God’s Horses (신의 전사들) from Morocco to his director Nabil Ayouch. This was displayed during the last session of JCC (les journaux cinematographiqes de Carthage/ Carthage Film Festival) where it won the prize of International Criticism (2012) and two days ago I watched it as it came back to the Tunisian movie theaters for the European film festival taking place now in Tunisia. I liked it. It is about the 2003 Casablanca bombings. It won the 1^st prize of Seminci (Valladolid International Film Festival) in 2012 and the prize François Chalais in the section “Un certain regard” (a certain glance) of the Cannes Film Festival, 2012.

At second level, I recommend the battle of Algeria (알제리 전투) which is a documentary and the Tunisian Militants (투사들) which is also a documentary. 

For more infos about the festival, you may drop by the official web site of the festival. (where everything is surprisingly in Korean o.O).
According to KBS World Radio Arabic, the festival will also be taking place in Busan where Arabic movies will be displayed starting the 25th to the 30th of June. 

[k-pop festival] Updates on the K-pop World festival, Tunisia preliminary

There have been, lately,  updates on the organization of the K-pop World festival, Tunisia preliminary.

The news come from the Facebook page of the Korean embassy in Tunisia and it is about mainly 2 important points: place and time.

So the new place for the event is the Tunisia Grand Hotel (Menzah 7), and the date is Sunday, 30th of June 2013, at 6 pm. 

The following poster was also shared. (although a little bit a fail).

The reason for this change is mostly because of the number of attendees that is estimated to excel the all-seater capacity of the Theater. 

Now, from my point of view, I would prefer the National Theater for his national, cultural and historical values. Apart from the luxurious and beautiful hotel, the theater would be a great opportunity for the performers, Lunafly but especially both the korean and tunisian cultures. 

Too bad, but I believe that LG has chosen to give the opportunity for more fans to enjoy the show which is a good point also.

Now, I want to share an other news here. Although, nothing official has been relased yet, Lunafly has releaser a notice the 28th of Mai, talking about a fanmeeting. This fanmeeting would probably take place one day before the festival. 

More details will be shared here as soon as official statements come up.