1. The Diplomats’ Choir, which has been selected for the Foreign Ministry’s “Public Diplomacy Project of Korean Citizens,” performed at the 2017 “Night of Korean Lyric Songs” held at the Chamber Hall of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts on August 3. Ambassadors in the ROK and their wives from eight countries, including Austria, Singapore, the Republic of South Africa, Malaysia and Algeria, gave the performance, singing Korean lyric songs in Korean. They sang beautiful Korean lyric songs, including “Thinking of Home” and “Barley Field,” and received a big round of applause from an audience of about 400 Korean citizens and foreigners after every performance.

o The Diplomats’ Choir, created in 2008, was selected for the Foreign Ministry’s “2017 Public Diplomacy Project of Korean Citizens” and has since acted as public diplomats. The performance, the result of the choir’s diligent practice with passion and dedication under the sponsorship of the Foreign Ministry, was presented by foreign ambassadors so that they themselves can help raise the awareness of foreigners in the ROK and Korean people about the beauty of Korean lyric songs.

o The choir has made a lot of preparations for the performance since April this year, including learning to pronounce Korean words, and taking lessons on the theory of Korean lyric songs as well as singing lessons given by experts. The choir fully showed off their singing skills they had developed, and the audience responded with huge applause.

2. In her remarks made after watching the performance, Ambassador for Public Diplomacy of the Foreign Ministry Park Enna expressed deep respect and appreciation to the members of the choir, who are showing deep affection and interest in Korean music and culture. She also hoped that as the Diplomats’ Choir was united through Korean lyric songs, everyone will become united through the performance. After the performance, Ambassador Park offered encouragement and congratulations to every performer.

3. A total of 12 programs have been selected this year for the Public Diplomacy Project of Korean Citizens, which is part of the Foreign Ministry’s “2017 public diplomacy projects conducted with the people,” and four programs, including the Diplomats’ Choir, have been successfully completed. The Foreign Ministry is carrying out a number of public diplomacy projects where Korean people themselves participate, and will continue to actively pursue cultural diplomacy using soft power together with the people.


* unofficial translation