The Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in the Philippines recently unveiled its new home at 59 Bayani Rd., Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
KCC launched an online party last March 12 featuring P-pop girl group Yara, and chef Sharwin Tee, who cooked a Korean dish at the KCC kitchen. Boy band SB19 and K-pop artist Minzy also performed.
For the first time, KCC showed to the public its Korean-style interiors as well as current facilities that its future Filipino guests will enjoy when they visit.
KCC’s new building features different facilities. On the ground floor, there is a permanent interactive cultural exhibit that features hansik (Korean Food), Hangul (Korean language), hanbok (Korean national costume) and Korea’s famous tourist destinations. Guests can learn to write their names in Hangul and try out different hanbok designs with a virtual photo booth.
The mezzanine has KCC’s library with a wide collection of 6,000 books and media resources related to Korean culture where everyone may read Korean books, listen to Korean music or watch Korean shows. There are rooms, nooks and spaces dedicated for those who want to read and listen in solitude as well as space for children who want to read Korean children’s books.
The second floor houses the specialty classrooms for Korean language, painting and other K-culture related classes and activities
KCC has provided free Korean language lessons as well as Korean culture classes to interested Filipinos, and the classrooms will be the perfect place for them to learn. There is also a common area outside the classrooms where students will have the chance to interact with each other.
The K-Studio and the Cooking Classroom are both on the third floor where KCC’s students may learn free sports, dances and how to cook Korean food. Taekwondo uniforms, instruments as well as other costumes are stored there for free use by students. Guests may also rent the place for any event related to Korean culture.
The fifth floor has KCC’s exhibits and art installations. This year, it houses the first kinetic media art installation in the Philippines entitled “Punghwa: Light of ASEAN,” created by the Korean interactive design group SILO Lab, an interactive media art studio. It was conceived from the fondness of light culture of both the Philippines and Korea.
The opening ceremony for the new home of KCC will be held on March 23. KCC will announce when the building will be opened to the public.