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The 2008 Korea Festival Exhibition is back in Busan and will be on for the next five days from June 20 to 24.

This year's theme looks into new possibilities for the Korean Wave, or "Hallyu," and will be presented through stage performances, symposia and other fun cultural experiences. Various booths representing regional festivals from both home and abroad will participate. Japan's Fukuoka, which happens to be the sister city of Busan, will also take part with its own famous Hakata Dontaku Festival.

The exhibition is especially focused on live programs at every booth for the visitors to get a better picture of festivals taking place in local provinces. Some of the notable festival booths will include Andong's mask dance festival booth, which will have a small stage of its own to present vibrant movements of Korean traditional folk dance and Jinju's Namgang Yudeung Festival Booth, a flowing lantern festival in Jinju that will have a small space to float some of its lanterns.

The Gyeongnam Goseong Dinosaur World Expo of South Gyeongsang province will bring a dinosaur figure into their booth and set up a photo zone for families to take pictures. The Cheongju Early Printing Museum from Chungcheongbuk-do (North Chungcheong Province) for its part plans to display the process of book printing in the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), a replica of Jikji books, which are the world's oldest remaining books made using moveable metal type, among other promotional materials.

There will also be an explanatory session for two exemplary festivals, the Yangyang Song-i Mushroom Festival and the Chunchon International Mime Festival, selected as this year's best by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

All around the events there will be dozens of musical performances made up of traditional folk play such as tightrope walking, a costume parade and other participatory programs for visitors. There will be a demonstration of Korean a traditional wedding ceremony in one order, a photogenic contest, a display of world masks and places to buy local agricultural specialties.

In the meantime a meeting of East Asian tourism ministers will take place from June 22 to 24. The ministers will look around the exhibition accompanied by some 500 government officials including mayors and others related to the tourism sector.

The exhibition is to take place in BEXCO, the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center.
For location go to: http://www.bexco.co.kr/english/main/main.jsp
For more information: http://www.fk.or.kr/

By Kim Hee-sung
Korea.net staff writer