[News Today] KBS EXHIBITION HALL REOPENS

[LEAD]
This week, KBS celebrates 'Viewers Week'. To mark this celebration, it revamped its Exhibition Hall, originally opened in 1977, and welcomed viewers back. A forum has also been arranged to discuss the role of public broadcasting, in line with the week's events.

[REPORT]
A group of children pose before a chroma key blue screen. When a virtual studio provides real-time weather data,

"Skies are cloudy in Seoul today."

they can even become weather casters they used to see on TV.

Pick a favorite K-pop singer, and the children can watch their performance from the KBS music program Music Bank.

If they sing in front of the camera, they turn into a contestant in a KBS children's music program.

"I love my mom the most in the whole wide world!"

Even their voices can be dubbed into making a one of a kind animation.

"The Nuri rocket's third launch was successful."

In the news studio, the young ones dream of becoming anchors.

Jung So-young / Childcare center teacher
Children were bewildered to see their faces on screen. It was nice they could click on songs and dance to the melody.

The KBS Exhibition Hall which first opened in 1977 and greeted visitors for 48 years has now reopened after undergoing renovation.

Last year alone, some 44-thousand people visited the hall. It aims to become not merely a site for school field trips but a venue for media education for students.

Also in celebration of Viewers Week, KBS hosted a forum jointly with the Korean Women's Association for Communication Studies on the topic of the role of public broadcasters for future generations.