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 562nd observation of Korean Alphabet Proclamation Day, around 1,600 foreign students participated in the contest..

Ph. D. Han-Joong Kim (President of Yonsei Univ), Mr. Gye-Gon Kim (President of the Korean Language Research Society), Mr. Yong-Gi Choi (General Manager of The National Institute of The Korean Language), Young-Mi Chung (Dean of College of Liberal Arts) and Jong-Hwa Hong (Director of Yonsei Extension) were invited to the contest. Ph. D. Han-Joong Kim, President of Yonsei University, delivered a congratulatory address to the participant at the opening ceremony. He said, “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the National Korean Language Writing Contest. Also, I want the students here to continue to build a cultural bridge between their countries and Korea.”

The subject was ‘Dawn’ for the poetry and ‘Happiness’ for the essay. Ms. Bayarma (Seogang Univ) from Mongolia won the first prize with 700,000 won of award in the competition. The second prizes were awarded to 4 students: Wang, Yang (Kyunghee Univ), Vitaly (Yonsei Univ), Mikhailo, Karolina (Seogang Univ) and Htet Htet Wint Aung (Inha Univ)

The first prize-winning poem is below.

새벽

내 마음을 달래주는
푸른 언덕과 황금색 햇빛속에서
내 사라진 미소 짙어진 눈물을 찾아간다

나는 여름의 새벽을 기다린다

내 마을을 위로해주는
물이 들어가는 붉은 단풍속에서
한 조각의 기대를 가지고 두 손을 모아 빈다

나는 가을의 새벽을 기다린다

내 마음을 씻어주는
하얗고 깨끗한 눈보라속에서
어린 소녀의 꿈을 꾸고 하늘끝까지 달려간다.

나는 겨울의 새벽을 기다린다.

내 마음을 치료해 주는
한 송이 꽃의 향기속에서
또다른 하루를 보내간다.

나는 봄의 새벽을 기다린다.

그리고 나는 사랑의 새벽을 설레이며 기다린다...