Korean Festival opens in New York City

A series of fun events related to Netflix’s mega hit “Squid Game” was held on Sunday (local time) in Union Square Park, central Manhattan, New York. Citizens circled around to trim away images using a pin in the “dalgona ppopgi” game. Some of participants were seen licking dalgona, or a traditional Korean honeycomb sugar candy, to make it easy to come it off just as Lee Jung-jae does in the drama. Other groups of visitors played the “Red Light Green Light” game. Trying not to be noticed by a game host wearing a costume of the doll in the drama, children advanced inch by inch in careful and secret manners. Hundreds of New Yorkers flocked together to take a look at booths themed “Squid Game” early morning.

“Korean Festival” is hosted once a year by the Korean American Association of Greater New York. This year’s event drew thousands of citizens – a greater number than usual, almost half of which were non-Korean New Yorkers although many Korean-Americans were seen on the streets.

Visitors had a chance to make kimchi where cabbages and chili powder were ready for use in a booth arranged by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation. The venue had promotional booths for Dokdo and East Sea. Various interesting auxiliary events lured visitors such as K-pop performance, taekwondo demonstrations, calligraphy writing and hanbok wearing experiences. “We prepared lots of freebies and they ran out like a flash,” said Charles Yoon, the chairman of the Korean American Association of Greater New York. “I am happy to see many visitors have a great time with us.”


Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com