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“At the university, I found out about this competition thanks to my Korean language teacher, delegated Professor Jang Wonka, and decided to write an essay. At first, I thought it would be difficult, but in fact, already while writing, I wanted to say about many things related to my personal experience, as well as about the merits of the Korean diaspora living in Kazakhstan. When I wrote the essay, I realized that I wanted to talk about all our traditions, about people, and about the language spoken at home by local Koreans of the older generation. After consulting with my teacher, we edited my essay a little, decided that it was more suitable for the topic and sent the essay to the competition. On November 10, an award ceremony and a concert program were held at the Education Center at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, where I read an excerpt from my essay and received an award.

For me, participation in this competition was a valuable experience. I was able to learn a lot of new things, and it was an opportunity to gather my life and the life of the Korean diaspora in Kazakhstan into one work. Of course, there are many more things that I could not mention, so I think that my deepening into this topic is just beginning. Now I want to learn and talk even more about the Korean diaspora, as it was very interesting to share events from my life, as well as events related to the Korean diaspora. I believe that the Korean diaspora can serve as a bridge between Kazakhstan and the Republic of Korea, as well as help us better understand each other. I hope that in the future I will have the opportunity to share my knowledge with more people. Thanks to the national Korean radio station KBS for the opportunity, and I also thank my teacher Professor Jang Wonka, who improved my Korean language skills, gave me courage and supported me during the competition.”

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Pak Liya, 3rd year student of the specialty "6B02302-Foreign Philology" of the Department of Korean Studies of the Department of the Far East