Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
INTERVIEW Fireworks festival due Saturday in Seoul
Fireworks light up the sky during the 16th Hanwha Seoul International Fireworks Festival at the Han River near Yeouido Park, Oct. 6, 2018. Courtesy of Hanwha Corp.
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Seoul skies will be brightened with Nordic features from a Swedish team that will participate in the 17th Hanwha Seoul International Fireworks Festival to be held at the Han River parks near Yeouido, Saturday.
While teams from China and Korea will also perform in the lavish event to give a colorful and extravagant portrayal of what their countries represent, the six-person Swedish team, Gothenburg Fireworks Factory led by Martin Hildeberg, is expected to do something special with their fireworks under the theme, “Color of the North.”
Martin Hildeberg
“We are a country of the north and I wanted to make a show that is a representative of our country and also representative of my style. We are set to use Swedish music and other music popular in our country,” Hildeberg said during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Wednesday.
The team will showcase five songs during their 15-minute fireworks extravaganza, kicking off with “Lay All Your Love on Me” sung by ABBA, one of Sweden's most popular artists, as well as other popular artists including Sam Smith and Ava Max.
Gothenburg is a well-known team in Europe, racking up 26 first places in prestigious international fireworks competitions.
The annual Hanwha fireworks festival reels in over 1 million spectators each year, which Hildeberg says will be “the biggest crowd” he will have the pleasure to perform in front of.
“I have seen a few Hanwha fireworks, and I am surprised by the size and level of the shows here. In Sweden, there are never this kind of big fireworks projects we see here with so many people, so much equipment and everything in big scale,” he said.
Hildeberg says participating in international competitions is a great way to meet experts in the same industry and the most important part of all is being able to “learn certain techniques and designs” which he said are a great educational means to improve the team's fireworks capability.
“I am very honored to be here. I hope people of Seoul will like my work and wish everyone a good fun evening with fireworks,” Hildeberg said.
The overall theme of the festival is “Life is Colorful” and it is expected to explode with 100,000 fireworks for 80 minutes starting from 7:20 p.m., Saturday.
China's Sunny International Fireworks will kick off the show under “The Starry Night” and Hanwha's team representing Korea will close the festivities by firing off 40 minutes of breathtaking fireworks.