This is an outdoor bar located in the trendy Hongdae neighborhood in Seoul. Orders for kimchi stew, spicy chicken feet, and other iconic Korean bar foods fly out of a group of foreign diners.

After reciting “bon appetite” in Korean, these foreign guests start digging into the food. One diner spoons up boiling kimchi stew and blows on it before slurping the spicy broth. Its spicy factor has been upped to the max with the well-fermented kimchi and hot chili pepper powder, but these guests shout out “Wonderful!” in unison.



These foreigners slowly becoming addicted to the spicy Korean food are the winners of Psy’s Wiki Korea event, who were given the chance to visit Korea from August 19th to 25th. Nearly 50 thousand people applied to the event and only fourteen of them were picked to experience Korean culture and share their new knowledge and love for Korea with their loved ones back home.

The Korea Tourism Organization had sponsored Psy’s Wiki Korea event on its homepage in June.

The ad for Psy’s Wiki Korea featured Korea’s iconic sights, foods, and entertainment, 27 in all. Mimicking the layout of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, Psy’s Wiki Korea showed video clips of these 27 icons or features, including bulgeum or burning Friday, Jeju Olle-gil or Jeju walking trails, the Myeongdong shopping district, bibimbap, and samgyeopsal or uncured bacon. The online event invited foreigners to create videos that best demonstrate the appeals of these Korean signatures and winners were given a chance to tour Korea. Here’s Mr. Kang Jong-soon of the Brand Marketing Team at the Korea Tourism Organization.

An online event was planned for 27 tourism icons of Korea. Fourteen participants from ten countries were chosen to take part in the tour. The winners came from the U.K., France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and China. They were here to experience the 27 tourism icons of which they made videos or took pictures. They knew more about Korea than some Koreans. They were also capable of informing their friends and family about Korea. Roughly 33 thousand people applied for the event so it was really tough to select just a few winners.

The 14 winners experienced the key features of Korean tourism scattered all over the country. They traveled to Seoul, Jeju Island, Busan, and Jeonju to fully immerse themselves in Korean culture. Here’s Mr. Kang Jong-soon of the Brand Marketing Team at the Korea Tourism Organization again.



They will be in Seoul and then visit Jeju Island, where they will see Woodo Island and walk along the Olle-gil trail. They will also go to the Korean Folk Village and the Hongdae neighborhood in Seoul to experience bulgeum or the Korean version of TGIF, the club scene, and pojangmachas. The tony Gangnam and Cheongdam-dong areas are also included in the itinerary, as well as the tradition-steeped Jeonju and the port city of Busan. Young Koreans usually burn the night away on Fridays, and many of the event applicants also said they really looked forward to bulgeum.

The first place the tour group visited was the Korean Folk Village, where the foreign visitors saw a traditional wedding ceremony and a folk band performance and tasted Korean pancakes with green onions.

Folk music or nongak was an essential part of village-wide celebration.

With the performance cresting toward the climax, sogo or small drum players began turning their hats with a long ribbon attached at the top. Spectators watched in awe as the performers kept spinning and flipping their hats, like whirling dervishes with 18-meter ribbons spinning above their heads. Here’s Matilda from France to tell us what it was like.

It was great. The spinning of the hat during the nongak performance was awesome and fun. I wanted to try it out myself. The jumping performance was great and the dish-spinning was also fun. I spun dishes on sticks when I was young, but I was never able to do it that high up.

Next up was a Korean traditional wedding ceremony.

Bride and groom bowed to each other and offered each other a pair of Mandarin ducks to symbolize their lasting love and chestnuts and dates for fertility. The visitors eagerly watched the Korean traditional wedding ceremony so different from their own.

- I’m Lai from Singapore. I haven’t seen a Korean traditional wedding ceremony before, so I didn’t know it took place outdoors. It’s quite different from a Singaporean wedding, as in costumes and the fact the bride and groom hide their faces when entering the ceremony site.
- I’m Lishin from Chingtao, China. I used to see Korean weddings on TV, but it was really interesting to see a real one here.

The visitors were starving by the time the wedding ceremony ended and the day’s lunch was Korean pancake with seafood called haemulpajeon.

They gaped and cheered as the mouthwatering platter-sized pancakes were placed in front of them. Accompanying the savory pancakes was rice-based alcoholic beverage called dongdongju. The foreign visitors smacked their lips as they made a toast.

With their hunger fully satisfied, they resumed their tour, this time playing traditional games.

Jegichagi is a Korean game meaning “kicking a jegi.” Jegi resembles a badminton shuttlecock, but is made with only hanji or Korean paper without using any tools, not even a knife, scissors, or glue. A player kicks the jegi using only one foot, keeping it in the air without letting it touch the ground. It’s a game that definitely requires some skill.

Kicking jegi probably wasn’t as easy as it looked to these foreigners. But they showed how much they were into Korean culture by folding up their pants and trying hard not to miss the jegi. Other members were taking pictures to post on their blogs or social media sites, uploading their experiences almost on a real time basis to share with their friends and family. Here’s Chow Wi-seon from China.

I played four games and it was really fun. I made jegi, saw a traditional wedding ceremony, and enjoyed a folk bank performance. I came to know a lot about Korean culture. I’m showing what I experienced to people in China through my social network services.

After touring Busan, Jeju Island, and Jeonju Hanok Village, the Wiki Korea tour group met again on the evening of August 23rd in Seoul. They were there to visit the music clubs in the Hongdae neighborhood and try late night snacks.

Korea’s outdoor bars, called pojangmacha, feature a wide selection of tasty dishes and a cheery ambience. The lively atmosphere seems to enhance the flavors of food and to double the fun. It didn’t take too long for these foreign visitors to fall in love with pojangmachas. Here’s Lai from Singapore and Matilda from France.

- I heard a lot about Hongdae from my friends or on the internet before I came to Korea. Now that I’m here it’s great for shopping, fun, and youthful with lots of clubs. I’ve just tried noodles in spicy broth, and it was flavorful and not too spicy. I can see that Koreans like pojangmacha and late night snacks. It’s really loud here, but I like it.
- Here in pojangmach everyone is having lots to eat and it’s like having a family meal. It’s nice sharing food. Music is playing and it’s really loud in here, but we can still talk and have delicious food. The sound of foods makes the dishes more delicious.

On the last day of the tour, the Wiki Korea winners tried on Korean traditional dress of hanbok.

The Wiki Korea Tour team received gifts of hanbok from esteemed hanbok designer Park Sul-nyeo. It was a meaningful time for both Park and the foreign visitors. Here’s the hanbok designer Park Sul-nyeo.

I think this is the most rewarding day of my 29-year career. Hanbok cannot be mass-produced. So each outfit is precious like my soul or my children. I never dreamed that I would just casually give away hanbok. This is the first time that I gave hanbok as a gift. I wish they would take this hanbok and feel how valuable Korean culture is. Traditional costume is precious in every country. Traditional outfits can tell a lot about that country. I’m glad to see that they like my gift and I regret my hesitation before.

Made of colorful fabrics, intricate patterns, and elegant lines, hanbok was a great outfit to try on for these foreign visitors. They beamed as they saw themselves in hanbok. Here are Chow Wi-shin from China and Lauren from the U.K.

- I’m from China. Hanbok is really beautiful. The colors are so pretty and it looks even better under the sunlight. Hanbok is not only beautiful, but it’s also lightweight. I wanted to try on hanbok for a long time, so I thank you for this chance.
- I’m Lauren from the U.K. Hanbok is uniquely designed. In Britain traditional costumes are not well preserved, so I rarely had a chance to put them on. But this experience in Korea was different. I have always been curious about hanbok while watching Korean TV shows and this experience has been a good one.



The fourteen members of the Wiki Korea tour group were completely immersed in Korean culture for seven days. They ate Korean food, listened to Korean music, saw Korean sights, and even dressed up in hanbok. They experiences and memories will be shared their families, friends, and neighbors, who are likely to have better images of Korean culture. Even now the photos they have uploaded on their social network sites are probably piquing someone’s curiosity and tempting them to come to Korea.

- It’s my first time in Korea. I was really interested in Korea before, but only got to see it on the internet or social networking sites. Coming here was a great experience. I’m going to come to Korea six months later for a volunteer work, and I’m really looking forward to have a great time then, too.
- It was my first time experiencing Korean culture. It was more unique and more affectionate than British culture. It was an honor to come to Korea and I think I will keep thinking about it even when I return to the U.K. Thank you for such a precious experience. I still think I’m dreaming. The most memorable part of my visit to Korea was bibimbap. It was such an incredible experience, coming to Korea, meeting Koreans, becoming like one big family and getting to know more about Korea through them.