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Harvest of songs as Korea celebrates 2019 National Day, cultural festival

By Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Abuja
06 December 2019   |   3:14 am
It was an evening of Nigerian and Korean pop music as the Republic of Korea celebrated her 2019 National Day and cultural festival in Abuja.

Korean artists performing on stage

It was an evening of Nigerian and Korean pop music as the Republic of Korea celebrated her 2019 National Day and cultural festival in Abuja. The event, which has become an annual programme in Abuja, usually welcomes artistes from Korea to entertain guests.
 
Among those who attended this year’s cultural festival included Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Minister for Woman Affairs, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, and Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah. There were also members of the diplomatic community and top Nigerian government functionaries.
 
The edition featured Acappella musical team, popularly known as Yammer. The group performed various songs including the popular The Lion King, Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson, Believer by Imagine Dragons and One Candle by G.O.D. The group jointly performed Onyeka Onwenu’s One Love with a Nigerian highlife band, Bigvic. Though the artists were visiting Nigeria for the first time, they said it did not take much to blend with Nigerian artistes since the music culture of Nigeria and Korea has more similarities than differences.
 
In his remarks, Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Lee In-tae, traced the history of Korean to when the heavenly prince came down to earth for his love of mankind and in the process married a woman, who bore him a son named Dankun, adding, “This son eventually built the first nation of the Korean people with an ideal to benefit all mankind.”

The ambassador noted that since then, the Korean people have strived to achieve this ideal by building friendly relations among countries. The envoy added that in spite of its challenging history, particularly in the last century when the country fell victim of colonial repression under Japan, followed by the Korean War, which led to the death of many out of hunger and poverty, it has continued to grow in strength.
 
“Yet we worked hard and grew strong,” he said. “We became one of the largest economies in the world and achieved stable democracy. Now, we are trying to achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. For us to succeed, your strong support for our efforts is necessary. Despite the hardships of our history, Korea has become close friends with many countries, especially Nigeria.”

Recall that Korea and Nigeria established diplomatic relations in 1980 and since then both countries have shared many things in common, particularly in the area of culture, which culminated in the establishment of Korea Cultural Centre in Nigeria.For the envoy, since both countries have so much in common, there is need to toe the path of peace and prosperity.
 
“To strengthen our friendship, I have been trying to enhance our cooperation, not only in political and economic areas but also in areas of education and culture,” he stated. “In this regard, my embassy has organised various cultural events like K-Pop contest and Taekwondo competition. At these events, I was so impressed by the passion of Nigerians towards creativity.”

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