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Spreading Vietnamese cultural identity in the heart of Seoul.
The Seoul Friendship Festival 2026 attracted a large number of visitors. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea) The festival took place over two days, May 9-10, at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) commercial and cultural center, with the participation of embassies and cultural centers from 73 countries. This is the largest international cultural exchange event held annually in Seoul since 1996, coinciding with Seoul Citizens' Day. According to the Seoul city government, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the festival, with the theme "30 Years with the World , Connecting Cultures." The event brought together dozens of international cultural and culinary stalls, along with many experiential activities such as art performances, cultural exchanges, traditional costume experiences, folk games, and programs for families and children. The Vietnamese booth stood out with its space reflecting the national identity, showcasing traditional handicrafts, images of scenic spots, cultural heritage, and achievements in Vietnam's socio -economic development. The presence of the Vietnamese booth at the festival further demonstrates the positive role of the Vietnamese community in South Korea in preserving and spreading national cultural identity. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea) Cultural activities, tourism promotion, and experiential exchanges attract the attention of a large number of visitors. In particular, the Vietnamese food area, featuring traditional dishes such as bun cha, banh mi, and iced milk coffee, left a very positive impression on international visitors and Korean locals alike. Many tourists have expressed their fondness for Vietnamese cuisine and hope to have the opportunity to visit in the near future. Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea Vu Ho emphasized that participating in the Seoul Spring Festival 2026 is a meaningful opportunity to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and promote the image of Vietnam, its people, and culture to international friends. According to the Ambassador, the Vietnamese booth not only contributes to promoting culture, tourism, and cuisine, but also spreads the positive values of Vietnam and its people, thereby strengthening the social foundation and friendly sentiments for the Vietnam-Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to develop more deeply and substantively. Seoul's Vice Mayor for Political Affairs, Park Chang Goo, stated that after 30 years of development, the festival ...
Neither Here Nor There: The Double Life of Korean-American Students in ...
By Joseph H. (27)— At a community service trip to Pabongsa Temple during eighth grade, Connor – a student at APIS who is fully Korean by ethnicity – was pulling his weight alongside classmates when a service instructor stopped and asked him a simple question: “Are you Korean?” Connor said yes. The instructor’s response came without hesitation: “I thought you were Chinese.” It was a small moment, quickly passed over. But it captures something larger – the quiet friction that Korean-American students navigate every day in South Korea, where looking Korean, speaking Korean, and being Korean are assumed to mean exactly the same thing. For multicultural students at schools like APIS, identity is rarely a clear equation. They are Korean enough to be expected to fit in, and American enough to perpetually stick out. It is a tension that plays out in the hallways, in friend groups, and deep inside their own sense of self. Fitting In Without Quite Fitting Joy, a former student at YISS who grew up in the Bay Area before returning to Korea, describes her experience with candid frustration. When asked where she is from, her answer is layered: Korea first, then the Bay Area, because neither tells the full story alone. But belonging, she says, has been harder to locate than an answer to that question. “I had a really hard time finding friends,” Joy recalls, “because I just didn’t really fit into the Korean culture. And even coming into high school, I tried to join Korean-Korean people’s friend groups, and it just didn’t really work out.” What she found instead was a community of Korean-Americans – people who, like her, felt just a little caught in between. Her values are rooted in Korean culture through her parents, but her instincts and preferences often lean American. She doesn’t feel the need to choose between the two, but the social world around her frequently makes that choice for her. One flashpoint, Joy says, was YISS’s preoccupation with physical appearance, a cultural fixation she identifies as distinctly Korean. “I really didn’t understand how they were so obsessed with talking about physical appearances,” she says. It was a view she didn’t share, and a reminder that cultural belonging was more than language or heritage. It is about unspoken social codes, and whether or not you know them. These kinds of social differences encompass her daily struggle, and reflects the broader issue of fitting in. A School That Leans Korean Ms. Park, the school counsel...
Danish adoptees call for South Korea to probe adoption issues
SEOUL, South Korea—Dozens of South Koreans adopted by Danish parents decades ago have formally demanded the South Korean government to investigate their adoptions, which they say were marred by ...
[Column] The Korean government has a duty to overseas adoptees
By Lee Suk-tae, former Constitutional Court justice On Aug. 23, 2022, around 50 members of the Danish Korean Rights Group, composed of people adopted from Korea to Denmark between the 1960s and the early 1990s, held a news conference in front of the headquarters of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul. There, they said overseas adoptees whose lives were based on lies had the right ...
