"Deep affection for his homeland" Kim Young-chul X Jannabi Choi Jeong-hoon meets 7.5 million overseas Koreans in the Lunar New Year special
Jan 21, 2025
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At the KBS 1TV New Year's special press conference held at the KBS main building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 21st, actor Kim Young-chul, singer Choi Jung-hoon, director of the Overseas Koreans Cooperation Center Kim Young-geun, and producer Yoon Jin-kyu attended to talk about the program. At this meeting, the production team and the cast shared the program's planning intentions, production processes, and emotions they felt while filming.
KBS will present two projects through this Lunar New Year special. 'Global Korean Travel Kim Young-chul Goes' is a program that deeply examines the lives of individual overseas Koreans, and '7 million Arirang' is a documentary that sheds light on the culture and identity of the entire overseas Korean society.
Producer Yoon Jin-kyu, the director of the show, said, "There are about 7.5 million Korean-Americans around the world, but there are not many cases in Korea that have shed a deep light on their lives," adding, "As a public broadcaster, I thought it was important to look into their lives and let the people in Korea know about them."," he said in expressing his intention to plan.
Kim Young-geun, head of the Overseas Korean Cooperation Center, said "Going around the world The popularity of the Korean Wave is beyond imagination, he said. "However, the reality is that the existence of 7.5 million overseas Koreans and their lives are not receiving much attention in Korea." He added "I hope this program will serve as an opportunity to promote the activities of overseas Koreans' communities in Korea and expand exchanges with their home countries."
Actor Kim Young-chul, who hosted the program, confessed that the concept of overseas Koreans was unfamiliar to him.
"Until I took charge of this program, I had never even thought deeply about the word 'Overseas Koreans'. But as I saw and felt their lives in person while filming, I realized that they love Korea more than we do in Korea and are taking care of their homeland."
Kim Young-chul visited Argentina and San Francisco to meet local overseas Koreans and shed light on their lives. "Some left for a living, but many settled abroad due to children's educational problems and various reasons."But what I felt in common was that my affection for my home country was really deep."
"In San Francisco, I was able to meet two chefs from overseas and look into their fierce lives," he said.
Producer Yoon Jin-kyu said, "The first generation of immigrants had a hard time, but it was impressive that the second and third generations became socially influential and settled down."," he said.
Meanwhile, singer Choi Jung-hoon participated in '7 million Arirang' and depicted the journey of exploring 'Arirang' sung by the Korean community abroad.
"Arirang may be a bit unfamiliar to the younger generation, but it's engraved in Korean DNA," Choi Jung-hoon said. "The biggest attraction of this program is to see Arirang's variations depending on each country and environment."
Through this broadcast, he said he realized the meaning again by singing Arirang with overseas Koreans. "When I was young, I always thought Arirang was a sad song with joy and sorrow. But when I sang Arirang, Koreans who I met overseas sang it with pride and longing for Korea."
In particular, he said that whenever he met Korean residents at overseas performances, their reactions were particularly hot. "People abroad welcomed people from Korea with more affection. It was a meaningful time to share such a warm connection in this program"
In this project, he also reinterpreted Arirang with modern sensibilities. "Arirang" is a song that anyone can easily sing along to, so I tried to make the original song feel as good as possible while arranging it with an acoustic guitar so that I could sing it naturally"
Through this documentary, the production team focused not only on introducing overseas Koreans, but also on shedding light on their lives and their connection to their motherland.
"While filming this program, I realized that overseas Koreans are not just Koreans living abroad, but people who are promoting Korean culture all over the world," Kim Young-chul said. "In the future, when I meet overseas Koreans, I think I will greet them with deeper gratitude."
Kim Young-geun, director of the center, said, `Overseas Koreans do not just leave Korea and live abroad, but play an important role in the global society by protecting the culture of Korea"I hope that this program will further promote understanding and exchanges between my motherland and overseas compatriots."
Producer Yoon Jin-kyu said, `I hope this program will lead to a continuous project, not a one-off project""I want to continue to introduce the stories of overseas Koreans through various opportunities such as Chuseok and Christmas as well as the Lunar New Year."" he said.
Meanwhile, KBS 1TV's New Year's special documentaries of `Global Korean Travel Kim Young-chul is coming' and '7 million Arirang" will be broadcast during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. First of all, in the first part, Kim Young-chul is going to go to 'Global Korean Gi-haeng Kim Young-chul is going to go' (hereinafter, 'Kim Young-chul is going to go'), Kim Young-chul is the star of San Francisco, the epicenter of the three Michelin starsInning Restaurant 'Benu' meets general chef Hwang Jung-in, and in the second part, Kim Young-chul meets Argentine legend and anchor Hwang Jin-i. The first part will air at 9:40 p.m. on the 28th, and the second part will air at 9:40 p.m. on the 29th.
'7 million Arirang' is about Zannabi Choi Jung-hoon participating in a global project to connect 'Arirang' of 7 million overseas Koreans. Choi Jung-hoon meets with young overseas Koreans to talk about Arirang they have and to learn what Arirang is for the Korean people. 'Arirang' will air at 7:40 p.m. on the 28th.
mj.cho@sportschosun.com
