Tooting the Culture Horn
Korean Air has held a launch ceremony for its “Korean On-air Program” at Inha University in Incheon on Aug. 6.
The Korean On-air Program is a cultural program by Korean Air that supports various activities for Korean youth who have a passion to promote Korean language and culture around the world. Starting from 2009, the airline has helped young people to produce traveler’s guides for popular tourist attractions in France in the Korean language, to inform hidden charms and information about each city of the United States, and to participate in the international street art festival in Edinburgh of the U.K.
For this year, Korean Air will recruit undergraduate and graduate students of colleges located in Incheon from May 26 to June 14. It will select three teams and support the projects that are directly produced by them. The three teams have colorful names: Daedongyeojido, which means "The Great Map of the East Land;” New Joseon Tongsinsa, which was the name of goodwill missions sent intermittently by Korea's Joseon Dynasty to Japan; and Nabi Hyogwa, which means butterfly effect.
Korean Air is planning to provide flight tickets, ground transportation, and resources for the projects to each team, while Daegu Metropolitan City and Jeju Tourism Organization are partially offering lodging and stay expenses. Also, the Busan Tourism Organization will support tour and partial stay costs, while Tourism New Zealand and Busan Centum Hotel will provide accommodations, respectively.
With this support, Team Daedongyeojido plans to visit tourist attractions in Daegu, Busan, and Jeju Island, make promotional video clips, and introduce the beauty of Korea to the world, along with foreign exchange students. The New Joseon Tongsinsa Team will produce bookmarks using calligraphy in the Korean language and distribute them to the citizens in major public places in New Zealand and Australia. Also, Team Nabi Hyogwa will put henna tattoos in Korean language on the bodies of students in four colleges in the eastern U.S. to celebrate Hangeul Day, or the Korean alphabet.
Korean Air will keep supporting these cultural activities just like the Korean On-air Program, in the future, and improve its brand image as the leading global airline that conveys the excellence of Korean culture to the world.