Korean Wave Roundup

[Anchor Lead]

In today's close up, we bring you scenes from the U.S. final for the K-pop World Festival scheduled for September. Then, we take you to Thailand for an international Korean speech contest. It's a round-up of news on Korean culture overseas.

[Pkg]

These are some great dancers. They are even as good as the Korean idol stars when it comes to singing. So it is only natural that they would draw such enthusiastic applause from the audience. This is the first nationwide stage of aa U.S. K-pop contest, which was once a small, local event. Passionate performances were staged by 77 participants making up 21 teams, selected through preliminaries held in seven major cities, including Washington. Both performers and the audience shared their passion, regardless of race or gender.

[Soundbite] Ali(Invited Singer) : "I was surprised and glad. I am also proud of the Korean music being loved so much, like this."

The judges had a tough time deciding the winners.

[Soundbite] Channel (Final winner)

The winner was given priority to participate in the KBS K-pop World Festival set for September in the South Korean city of Changwon. A young Mongolian criticizes South Koreans' excessive use of slang terms and shortened words.

[Soundbite] Mongolian participant in Korean Speech Contest : "Koreans should think back on the original intention King Sejong the Great had in his mind when creating the Korean alphabet hangeul."

Izumi Hatano, owner of a Korean language institute in Japan, sounds just as natural as any Korean native speakers.

[Soundbite] Japanese participant in Korean Speech Contest : "I am proud of myself for being a cultural missionary between Korea and Japan."

The audience cheers for a participant who forgot her next line. An international Korean speech contest was held in Thailand. There were a total of 49 participants from 17 countries, who were selected through preliminaries. The participants-foreigners and overseas Koreans--showed off their Korean language skills

[Soundbite] Kim Kyung-seok(Chairman, Korea Eloquence Association) : "Listeners feel different emotions in response to the different rhythm and length of each sound. They will learn that there are various techniques to express."

The annual Korean speech contest marks its 21st event this year.