Meet European culture in Seoul

By Kim Se-jeong

Staff Reporter

The common perception of many Koreans is that many things Western are often assumed as being American.

An event starting today in Seoul is likely to help destroy that misconception by distinguishing European culture from that of America.

"In a way, that's why we are organizing the special week," said Lucio Izzo, director of the Italian Cultural Center who is the President of the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) Seoul cluster this year.

EUNIC is presenting a week-long event "Meet Europe in Seoul" this week.

As collaboration of European countries, it is intended to spread the unique cultural knowledge of each nation.

Participants of EUNIC are public organizations working in international cultural relations and cooperation.

In Korea, the main members are the British Council, the French and Italian cultural centers, the Goethe Institute and the Czech Information Center.

Begun to promote culture only within the European continent, EUNIC has gradually reached out to garner a non-European audience.

Now, EUNIC clusters work in more than 150 countries including South Korea.

EUNIC in Korea only opened last year.

Acknowledging the cultural landscape in Korea, Izzo said he wouldn't completely agree with the statement: American culture is dominant in Korea.

"Yes there is a strong presence, but what's important is that there is European culture as well," he said.

"It is just that many don't realize it as European."

He doesn't want to blame Koreans for being ignorant of European culture, because Europeans are to blame as well.

"It's like in Europe many people use Korean products and eat Korean food in their lives. But they don't often think of it as Korean. They often think it's Japanese or Chinese."

Each day of the week has a theme: Britain on Monday; France, Tuesday; the Czech Republic, Wednesday; Italy, Thursday and Germany, Friday.

Each organization will make a cultural presentation, for example a film screening or a concert.

All the events are open to the public.

Participants will have a chance to win prizes contributed by each organization. The grand prize will be a roundtrip ticket to Europe.

To win a prize, participants have to visit at least three institutes, get stamps and take quizzes during the event.

And on Saturday, participants should come to the auditorium of the Seoul City Hall Welfare Center at Deoksu Palace with quiz papers, where prize winners will be selected through a lucky draw.

The director is hoping for a big turnout, especially from students.

A few other European countries including Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden will also hold some presentations, but not in the same week.

About European culture, the director had to say this: "As one political and economic union, it's very important to protect the cultural characteristics of various countries. We should preserve our identity, especially as we are now one entity."