Sharing Korean Food

[Anchor Lead]

A group of foreign women married to Korean nationals has expressed their gratitude to their neighbors for their help with adapting to life in Korea. With the Lunar New Year weekend around the corner, they gave thanks by cooking up some rice cake soup.

[Pkg]

A community center is full of people cooking a rice cake soup. This woman from the Philippines has her hands full serving the soup to the guests. She has been married to her Korean husband for eight years now. She's good at cooking the rice cake soup now, but when she just came to Korea, she had a hard time learning to cook Korean food.

[Soundbite] From Philippines : "I asked my neighbors a lot about how to cook Korean food."

This woman from Uzbekistan, whose mother-in-law passed away one year after she and her husband got married, says she will never forget the warm hearts of her neighbors.

[Soundbite] From Uzbekistan : "It was hard when I got pregnant, as there was nobody to help me. My neighbors and people who know my husband helped us a lot."

These women had a hectic morning, making dumplings and traditional pancakes, but they feel rewarded to see the seniors enjoy their food.

[Soundbite] Kim Kuk-ja(Gyeonggi-do Prov. Resident) : "They're kind and cute. I enjoyed my meal. I have emptied my bowl."

Some 230,000 foreign women residing in Korea are married to Korean nationals. Many of them have learned the unique Korean way of bonding with neighbors by sharing food.