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| President Park |
Park returned Saturday after attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris and holding talks with the leaders of four central European countries.
After the conference in Paris on Nov. 30, she visited the Decorative Arts Museum to see the "Korea Now" exhibition that features 1,500 pieces of Korean arts, crafts and design provided by 151 artists, artisans, and fashion and graphic designers. This is the first time the museum has held such a long-running display featuring one country's arts and crafts.
The exhibition, which is scheduled to run through Jan. 3, 2016, is part of the "Years 2015-2016 of Korea-France Bilateral Exchanges." Next year marks the 130th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the countries.
"I hope the exhibition will play a role in boosting cultural exchanges," Park said.
At a Cabinet meeting in August, the President said: "We need to discover those neglected cultural values and reinterpret them in a modern way so we can recreate our culture."
Park's cultural diplomacy continued during her visit to Prague for summit meetings with leaders of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries on Dec. 3. The V4 is an informal, regional form of cooperation comprising four Central European countries ― the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
The president attended a puppet show "In the Attic" at the National Marionette Theatre in Prague on Dec. 2. The performance is a collaborative work of a traditional Korean pansori singing "Sugungga" and traditional Czech marionettes.
"If the two countries' unique cultural and traditional features were combined, it would help artists from the two nations produce new works and advance on to the global stage," Park said after the show.
On Dec. 4, Park visited a concert hall to watch a Korean pop concert in Prague. Popular Korean music groups including SHINee and Red Velvet performed in the country for the first time.
The K-pop concert, designed to promote the Korean wave in central Europe, attracted about 1,800 people from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
Park said she hoped the Czech Republic and Korea would become closer through the performance and that more people would take an interest in Korea and its culture, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
This was the third time that Park has attended a K-pop concert -- the other occasions were in China in 2013 and Brazil in April this year.
In a special address at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Dec. 1, Park said Korea would share the results of its cultural prosperity with the rest of the world.
This was the first time a Korean president has visited UNESCO and delivered a speech. Park's visit was part of the organization's 70th anniversary.
