Celebrating 70 years of Korean-Philippine friendship
THE PHILIPPINES and Korea mark 70 years of diplomatic relations this year and last week celebrated the milestone through a one-of-a-kind “friendship concert.”
Held at the Mall of Asia Arena, the show featured three upand-coming Korean pop groups — April, Noir and NCT Dream, a local rock band, Silent Sanctuary, and was attended by ranking government officials and members of the diplomatic corps.
Fans of the featured artists came in droves and were ecstatic to witness the free performance.
Ambassador of Korea to the Philippines, Dong-man Han, delivered the welcoming remarks, and surprised the audience by speaking in full Filipino throughout his three-minute speech.
“Ang K-pop, Korean telenovelas, K-food ay sikat sa Pilipinas. Isa sa ating mga trabaho ay ang pagpapalaganap ng Korean wave dito sa bansa. (K-pop, Korean telenovelas, and K-food are popular in the Philippines. One of our tasks is to further promote Korean wave in the Philippines),” he said
He also noted that Seoul is one of the biggest sources of tourism for the Philippines, with 1.6 million tourist arrivals. Korea is also the fourth-biggest trading partner of the country.
“Sa mga (hindi) fans ng Kpop, inaanyayahan ko kayo (na) suportahan ang paglago at pagtatag ng relasyon ng Pilipinas at Korea (For non-K-pop fans, we invite you to support the growth and strengthening of relations between the Philippines and Korea),” Mr. Han added.
Kim Yong-sam, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea and Victorino M. Manalo, a commissioner of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and executive director of the National Archives of the Philippines, also spoke during the opening ceremonies.
But the crowd at the MOA Arena did not need any convincing. They loudly cheered for April, who visited Manila for the first time since the all-girl group debuted in August 2015. April sang