The National Korean Language Writing Contest was held on October 8th at Yonsei’s outdoor amphitheater. With the purposes of encouraging foreigners to learn the Korean language as well as celebrating the 561st observation of Korean Alphabet Proclamation Day, around 1,400 foreign students participated in the contest. The subject was ‘star’ for the poetry and ‘trip’ for the essay. Chinese student Qi, Pei (Exchange students at Seoul Women’s Univ) won the first prize with 700,000 won of award in the competition. The second prizes were awarded to 4 students: Honda, Sae (Ewha Women’s Univ), Chen, Po-Chen (Seoul National Univ), Niekoraniec, Kamila (Yonsei Univ) and Malik, Ekaterina (Kyung Hee Univ).
The first prize-winning poem is below.

별

고향을 떠나
가족과 떨어져서
외로운 밤마다
별을 보면 가족생각이 자주 난다.
별은 친정이다.

꿈을 가지고 일하면서
어려울 때마다
밤에 별을 보고 싶다.
별은 친구이다.

진심으로 사랑하는 사람이
곁에 없을 때마다
반짝이는 별은 당신의 눈빛이다.
그때 별은 사랑이다.