‘Military diplomacy’
Autumn reveals its true beauty when the cool breeze starts rolling in. It is an ideal time of year to reinforce a sense of camaraderie and family bonds as the memories generated during this season can be as colorful and comforting as its surrounding scenery.
With the season creating the perfect setting for outdoor events, the Korea Defense Language Institute (KDLI) held an annual international festival called Onnuri Hanmadang where Hangeul-learning foreign military personnel, ranging from cadets to generals, coming from 28 countries assembled for a cross-cultural event on Sept.
26. The festival, characterized by national cultural exhibit booths, provides international military officers the opportunity to display and represent their traditional costumes, food, dances and more to hundreds of Korean military officers studying at KDLI and the local community.
Young children of foreign military officers who attend a local elementary school in the suburban area of Icheon started off the event by singing delightful Korean songs along with their Korean classmates. It is through these sorts of exchanges that our students learn to engage and work with students from different cultural backgrounds.
In the following session, the Ground Operations Command of the ROK Army tested their martial arts mettle in a taekwondo demonstration and received a big round of applause while foreign officers and their family members watched in awe. When Indonesian officers and their family members performed a flurry of moves showcasing a traditional folk dance, Korean officers enrolled in Indonesian courses at the KDLI joined in to the rhythm of the dance.
In another session, Indian spouses invited their fellow Korean viewers to shadow their daily yoga movements. As I sat on the sidelines taking in the marvelous series of events unfolding in front of my eyes, I realized the profound symbolic meaning of the KDLI’s existence.
The KDLI is located in a small rural town in Janghowon, Icheon and little is known about the rich diversity it houses. As a state-run language training center dedicated to training young officers and non-commissioned officers both from home and abroad, it provides unique opportunities for the trainees to not only cultivate their language skills but also to promote international military exchange and the development of pro-Korean sentiment.
According to some foreign officers, the experience of learning Korean at the KDLI, they say, will live forever in their memories. Two foreign colonels who were students at the KDLI the previous year were happy to partake in this year’s festival again. Such instances bear testament to the role the KDLI plays in bringing about harmony and forging strong ties with foreign officers.