The embassy of South Korea in Doha has lined up a series of major activities to celebrate its time-honoured and diverse cultural heritages, as well as its upcoming National Day, which will be marked with flair.

Ambassador Heung Kyeong Park said a taekwondo competition was held on Saturday at the Education City’s basketball stadium, in co-operation with the Qatar Taekwondo and Karate Federation and the South Korean community in Qatar.
“After taekwondo started reforming from Korean traditional martial art since the 1940s, it has continuously developed and spread across the world. As of now, 80mn people are practising Taekwondo as an Olympic event in 206 countries,” Park told reporters at a press conference held recently.
On Monday, the ‘Rhythm of Korea’ by B-Boy Jinjo Crew and the Kukkiwon Taekwondo Demonstration team will perform at the Drama Theatre inside Katara – the Cultural Village.
The ambassador noted that Korean youth are also active in absorbing and developing foreign cultures such as breakdancing. He said the Jinjo Crew won five major World B-Boy contests and achieved the first B-Boy Grand Slam in 40 years of B-Boy history. They will show dynamic dances to the fast rhythms of Korea and others, he said.
The Kukkiwon Taekwondo Demonstration Team, on the other hand, will focus on the speed of physical actions in three areas: forms, sparring, and breaking. He pointed out that during the performance, the ambassador hopes that the audience will feel the five underlying tenets of Taekwondo: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and an indomitable spirit.
“Korea has time-honoured and diverse cultural heritages. Korean people have continually developed their culture over more than 2,000 years while they have lived on the Korean peninsula without interruption.
“Naturally, Korea has 12 Unesco world heritage sites and 19 Unesco intangible cultural heritages in the format of music, dance, and other communal activities. These cultural heritages have provided a rich ground for the contemporary K-pop, K-drama and K-movies,” he said.
Preparations are now under way for celebration of the Korean National Day reception and Korean Food Festival at the Korean embassy on November 14. The Korean embassy and two Korean restaurants and groceries based in Doha will present Korean foods during the event.
“Korean foods are generally low-fat and healthy because they are made mainly from vegetables, rice and beans. Kimchi and main sauces, such as soybean sauce and chili pepper paste, are based on the fermentation process, the result of which activates digestion and reduces the risk of diabetes and other diseases,” he said.
Other upcoming events include a roundtable discussion on the situation of the Korean peninsula with Dr Shin Beom-chul at W Hotel on November 20, including the ‘2nd Korea-Qatar Medical Forum and the 5th Korea-Qatar High Level Strategic Cooperation Committee', which are slated to held next month.
The medical forum is expected to witness advanced liver and heart artery surgical operations, while the high-level strategic co-operation committee meeting will delve on co-operation in trade and investment, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and agriculture.
Speaking on the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics slated from February 9 to 25, 2018, the ambassador said: “The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 Qatar World Cup will strengthen the lofty ideals of harmony and peace in the conflict-ridden globe, consecutively.
“Let us start our global campaign for harmony and peace in Pyeongchang, Korea next February and then lead it up to 2022 Qatar World Cup.”