YU Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul holds ‘Global Saemaul Chuseok Festival’
Over 200 participate including international students from over 40 countries and faculty and Korean students
Experiences Korean culture through traditional folk games such as yutnori, jegichagi and tuho
[September 29, 2017]
<International students of the Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul playing yutnori at the ‘2017 Global Saemaul Chuseok Festival’>
YU (President Sur Gil-soo) held a Chuseok event for international students studying in a country far from their own.
The YU Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul (Dean Kim Gi-soo) held the ‘2017 Global Saemaul Chuseok Festival’. The Park Chung Hee School has been holding the ‘Global Saemaul Chuseok Festival’ annually since 2013 to enjoy Chuseok together with international students.
This event, which was held at the YU Folk Village on the 29th five days before Korea’s biggest holiday of Chuseok, was joined by over 200 people including approximately 130 international students from over 40 countries at the Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul, as well as Korean students, professors and faculty.
<International students at the Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul’ participating in the ‘2017 Global Saemaul Chuseok Festival’>
Dean Kim Gi-soo who prepared for this event said, “Chuseok is Korea’s Thanksgiving. I hope that on this traditional holiday of Korea, international students who came from around the world will join professors, employees and students they have met in Korea to share delicious food, talk with each other, and spend a good time.” He added, “There are various performances and traditional folk games of Korea prepared for this event. I hope that everyone will enjoy them together to experience traditional Korean culture and make great memories.”
<International students display the traditional clothes from various countries at the ‘2017 Global Saemaul Chuseok Festival’.>
The festivities kicked off with international students performing samul-nori. They showed off their samul-nori skills that they trained for while studying in Korea and received huge responses from spectators. Also, international students showed off their traditional clothes from their home countries in a fashion show, and participated in traditional Korean folk games such as yutnori, jegichagi and tuho to gain a deeper understanding of Korean culture. They also participated together in arm-wrestling, relay races, and hula-hoop passing to enjoy the holidays of a foreign country.
Saifun Nahar (40, YU Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul, Department of Public Policy and Leadership, 3rd term in master’s degree program) from Bangladesh who attended the Chuseok Festival said, “I have been very busy studying while in Korea. I want to spend today with my friends from around the world during Korea’s holiday and enjoy the festivities,” while adding, “I do not know much about traditional Korean games such as yutnori, but I want to take part in various games and experience Korean culture as much as I can.”
