By Honorary Reporter Seema Thomas from India

Photos = Seema Thomas, Korea.net

This year's induction ceremony for Honorary Reporters and K-influencers was held on May 20 at MBC Golden Mouth Hall in Seoul and livestreamed by the Korean Culture and Information Service via Zoom and YouTube. This date also marked my first anniversary as an Honorary Reporter, bringing back memories of last year's event.

This year saw a big jump in the number of Honorary Reporters and K-influencers. In the former category, the numbers jumped from 3,432 from 105 countries last year to 4,834 from 122 this year, and that of the latter went up to 1,856 from 1,224 over the same period.

The ceremony's two halves were each an hour long and comprised the ceremony and K-harmony Festival. 

The following are my top five moments from the ceremony.

Message from vice culture minister
In his congratulatory video speech, Second Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yong-man mentioned how the 15th Together Day and the ceremony's slogan "Harmony with K-culture" resonated given the participants' shared love for Korea. He also said Honorary Reporters and K-influencers played a key role in promoting Korean culture to the world during the pandemic, adding, "The harmony we foster among ourselves fuels the harmony between Korea and the world."

Samulnori performance 

Honorary Reporter Alybaev Berktursun from Kyrgyzstan said he first learned of the Korean language and culture in middle school and gave a brief performance of the traditional drum janggu. That a non-Korean performed the instrument so well attests to the attention Korean culture receives worldwide.

Traditional folk song 

K-Influencer Nancy Castro from Mexico, who also performed at last year's ceremony, is the first foreign student to major in Korean folk music at Korean National University of Arts and the first international applicant to pass the apprenticeship test for intangible cultural heritage. Her rendition of her favorite minyo (folk song) "Norae Garak" was great.

Magic show

Illusionist Choi Hyo-won, director of the K-drama "The Sound of Magic," put on a magic show in which he correctly guessed the card someone randomly picked. He also transformed blank cards into announcements with logos, taglines and titles and blank frames into certificates of appointment of this year's incoming class.

Closing performance 

My favorite part of the ceremony was the performance by harpist Michelle Paris and acoustic guitarist Seunghoon. Their medley of "Miryang Arirang" gave me goosebumps, and even after their performance was over, I could still hear the melody in my ears. I've seen the performance repeated times since it was uploaded.