Korean organization spreads culture
Kaleigh Gremaud / Staff Writer
The Korean Culture Exchange organization hosted its festival on the Library Mall at 2 p.m. on a cold, windy Thursday.
“We want to bring Korean culture to UNT,” president of the organization and English senior Erin Graham said. “Many people have experienced Korean culture, but may not realize it.”
Usually, the organization seeks to provide Korean foreign exchange students with a stress-free way to learn English and understand the American culture.
“We encourage them to hang out with American students,” Graham said. “We have found that those who hang out with American students pick up the English language better.”
Today, the group focused on helping Americans understand Korean culture. The festival had different booths set up to educate students. It had live performances, face painting and games.
The organization performance coordinator Monica Ussin, home furnishing merchandising senior, ran the entertainment booth. The booth had pictures and descriptions of Korean entertainment. The music that is popular in Korea is known as K pop.
“We want to educate people on the pop culture and drama Korea has,” Ussin said. “There are a lot of girl groups and boy groups that are popular in Korea, similar to how it was in the ’90s here in America. There are still individuals, but the groups are more popular.”
Hanbok, the traditional clothing in Korea, was another booth to help show Korean culture. Men of high status wear hats to symbolize this. Children’s clothing had colorful stripes down the sleeves.
At each booth visited, students received one ticket. Students could trade three tickets in for Korean food.
“Some of the traditional Korean food we are serving are: japchae, bulgogi, tteokbokki, and kimbo,” integrative studies senior Nick Jones said.
Japchae is a clear sweet potato noodle mixed with vegetables. Bulgogi is a sweet beef. Tteokbokki is a rice cake with a spicy sauce over it. Kimbob is similar to sushi, but it’s all vegetables.
“I’m not big on spicy food,” Jones said. “But I really like the rice cake. It’s really good.”
Featured Image: Students celebrate Korean culture at the Library Mall this afternoon. The Korean Culture Exchange hosted the event. Photo by Kaleigh Gremaud
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