Seoul/New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) First Lady Kim Hea Kyung attended a K-pop contest in India on Monday, expressing hope for stronger people-to-people ties through cultural exchange, the presidential office said.
Kim joined the ‘K-Dream Stage: All India K-Pop Grand Championship’, an annual contest hosted by the Korean Cultural Centre, as a guest, while accompanying President Lee Jae Myung on his State Visit to India, Yonhap news agency reported.
She noted that the event highlighted the growing popularity of Korean culture in India and expressed hope that the contestants would serve as a bridge between the two nations.
“I firmly believe that all of you here will become leading figures in shaping a new global wave of popular culture, including in India and Korea,” she said in an address.
The event featured K-pop dance and singing competitions as well as performances by invited artists. Park Jin-young, founder of K-pop powerhouse JYP Entertainment and co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, joined the event.
“Culture has the power to connect people beyond borders,” Kim said. “I hope today’s event will serve as an opportunity to deepen mutual understanding and empathy between our cultures, and further expand exchanges between our two countries.”
Earlier in the day, the First Lady, along with South Korean President Lee Hau Myung, paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat in New Delhi.
The South Korean President is on a three-day state visit to India. Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, Harsh Malhotra, received President Lee and First Lady Kim Hea Kyung at the airport in New Delhi on Sunday.
The MEA noted that the South Korean President’s visit to India marks an “important milestone” in advancing the special strategic partnership between the two nations.
