On April 23rd the Korean Tourism Organiziation held an event at their Tourism Center near the Cheonggyecheon stream in Seoul in order to welcome the K-Performance Supporters and announce Jay Park as the ambassador for the 2012 R-16 B-Boy competition.
The KTO organized for foreigners currently living or staying in Korea to sign up and become K-Performance Supporters, who will from now on achieve missions and gain points, attending events, concerts and other different types of performances in Seoul. The only condition: Report it on the internet, write about it and make Korea known in their country.
Today's event was the first mission to be accomplished. Supporters, press and other people arrived around 5:30 pm at the center, just to be greeted with a large buffet and music playing in the background. Instruments were set up on the stage but not much happened there until the first announcement was made and an acapella band came on stage to entertain the guests until the real event would start. During the last song though, the viewers lost all their interest for the band, as Jay Park arrived quietly but still noticeable. After a short moment standing in the crowd and letting everyone take pictures, he was escorted to the side of the stage, which by now had been taken over by hosts of Arirang TV who were reporting on the event. Shortly after, Lee Charm, the German born head of the KTO came on stage and answered a few questions for them.
Most importantly though, it was announced that there would soon be rush tickets provided at the KTO for not yet sold out events on the actual day of the performance and at a discounted price, mostly for performances such as the popular Cooking NANTA. Secondly, they announced an open stage every Wednesday and Friday during lunch and dinner time, which would include culture or musical performances to inspire people to be more interested in events taking place in and around Seoul but also Korea generally.
Finally, Jay Park was introduced and he joined the stage. He was awarded as the ambassador for the R-16 B-Boy competition and received a gift from a graffiti competition as well. After that, he quickly did a Q&A, expressing his gratitude to be able to promote that event. Luckily for all foreign fans standing around, he quickly changed to English but just as fast the interview was done as well.
K-Performance supporters were then asked to join on the stage to take a group picture all together, and the press tried to make it easier for everyone, asking for fun poses. Quickly after the obvious superstar of the evening left, the place started to get empty but a last band took over, in order to fade out the evening with some fun covers of songs like It's Raining Men and Sunset Glow (known by Big Bang who also covered the song some years ago).
So all in all, we can say this was a promising event and it seems Korea is doing their best to show the world that a visit is definitely worth it, and we can look forward to the upcoming events this year. If you're not here yet, it's time to plan your next trip!
