Proclamation No. 14298 signed by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last May 2008 stated that the year 2009 is the "Philippines-Republic of Korea Friendship Year" and to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Philippines-Republic of Korea Diplomatic Relations, the Korean Embassy in the Philippines will be holding a cultural festival in November.
In an interview by PEP with the Counselor for the Korean Embassy in the Philippines, Kim Kie Joo, Kim stated: "We are looking forward to a lot of events in November. There will be a cultural event, and we are going to invite cultural performers from Korea so that we can share our cultural legacy."
When asked if Korean pop artistes will be included among the cultural performers to be invited, Kim stated: "I'm not in a position to guarantee who we can bring to the RP. We will try our very utmost to bring our well-renowned Korean stars so that we can really enjoy together with the Filipino people."
Kim further stated that the plan can easily be pushed through if Filipinos will voice out their demands via surveys, blogs, online petitions or signature drives, and other platforms.
A few weeks ago, an
online petition was launched to bring 2NE1 in the Philippines.
As an early salvo of the cultural festival, a week-long Korean Film Festival will be held from Septeber 23 to 29 at Shangri-La Plaza Cineplex. Seven (7) award-winning Korean movies will be featured namely Park Chan Wook's 2004 Cannes Grand Prix winner "Oldboy," a 2000 comedy entitled "Flandersui gae" (Barking Dogs Never Bite), a 2005 romantic movie entitled Sa-Kwa, 2007 romantic period movie "Chun nyun hack" (Beyond the Years), 2006 action movie "Woo a han Se gye" (The Show Must Go On), 2006 movie entitled "A nae eui Ae ni eul Man na da" (Driving With My Wife's Lover), and the 2006 period romantic comedy "Eum ran seo saeng" (Forbidden Quest).
Kim stated: "The films can show the life of the people, the nation, the country to other countries in a very condensed way. I think they are quite representative with the life of Korea."
He further stated: "As you are enjoying Koreanovela (Korean tv series), there is 100 percent sure reason that you can enjoy Korean films"
According to Counselor Kim, the cultural festival will serve as a thank you by the Koreans to the Filipinos, who helped the Koreans achieve their democracy and freedom 54 years ago. "They sacrificed very much for a noble cause of defending democracy and freedom, and that's really why we feel so grateful to the Filipino people. That's the backdrop of the very sound relations between the countries," Kim said.
Looking back in history, the Philippines sent 7,000 troops to fight in the Korean war in the 1950s.
Kim further explained that the similarities between the two cultures paved way for Koreans to migrate to the Philippines, and he believed that this is also the reason why Filipinos enjoy Korean pop culture.
Currently, a number of local radio stations and television music channels are airing Korean music and some are even hitting the music charts.
Source:
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Korean Embassy Brings Korean Culture to Manila; K-Pop Stars by Public Demand Only
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2NE1 would have a high chance of showing up coz of Dara and then maybe hopefully bring Big Bang with them.... lol! 
Didn't SUJU's album do well in sales over there? Maybe both YG and SM will send their artists...
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