Asia Pacific Hindi Conference 2014 being held in Seoul
The Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) of Korea is organizing an Asia Pacific International Hindi Conference 2014, on 13 and 14 March 2014, in collaboration with the Hindi department of the Ministry of External Affairs of India and the Embassy of India, Seoul. The theme of the conference is ‘Hindi Education of the 21st Century: the Asian-Pacific Context’. Leading scholars from India, China, Japan, South Korea and Australia are participating in the Conference.
2. Inaugurating the conference President of HUFS Dr. Kim In-chul expressed happiness that his university was engaged in Hindi and Indian studies since 1972. A large number of Korean youngsters had acquired proficiency in Hindi over the decades and found placements in academia as well as industrial establishments. He assured even greater focus on Indian studies in the coming years. Ambassador Vishnu Prakash underlined the importance of Hindi which had become one of world’s leading languages and complimented HUFSfor its sustained efforts to promote Hindi in Korea. Professor Emeritus Lee Jeong-ho of HUFS expressed an earnest hope that Hindi would soon be recognized as one of the working languages at UN. Prof. Jiang Jingkui from China spoke of his admiration for Indian culture and languages. ‘I breathe, drink and eat Hindi’ he said in fluent Hindi. He observed that Hindi was being taught in 10 universities in China, which was not enough.
3. An impressive rendition of traditional Korean percussion instruments -‘Han-url’ by the students of HUFS and Indian classical dance ‘Kathak’ by the Indian Cultural Centre, Seoul, followed. The inaugural ceremony witnessed a large turnout of students studying Hindi, as well as, scholars and media representatives.
4. The Indian Cultural Centre, Seoul (http://indoculture.org/) and Indian Cultural Centre, Busan (http://www.iccbs.or.kr/)was set up in 2011 and 2013 respectively for intensifying cultural exchanges between India and Korea. The Centers offer regular classes of Yoga, dance, Hindi language & Indian traditional cooking, as well as, movie shows, besides holding fortnightly events all across South Korea, including film, culture and food festivals, exhibitions, music and dance programmes, quiz contests & workshops. All friends of India are invited to avail of facilities of ICC Seoul and Busan.
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