K-CONnected is a combined word of ‘K-pop concert’ and ‘connected.’ This year, Jeju Island was selected as the participating region for this project, and therefore twenty-one Jeju students went to Thailand, Bangkok. To be more specific, they were broken down into three groups; each group had five to six high school students and had one JNU student as the group leader. I was one of the JNU students.
I participated as the leader of group two, which had five high school students. This was my first time visiting Thailand, so I was quite concerned to act as a leader, but on the other hand, felt excited. The project was six days long, from September 24th to September 29th.
When we finally met with the Thailand students in their school, I was surprised by their kindness. There were about forty students, who varied from middle school to graduate students, and each of them showed a big interest in us. At first, awkward and embarrassing moments continued due to difficulty in communication, but those soon disappeared by a present-exchange event and ice-breaking games.
After having a brief time to get to know each other, all of us participated in various programs. As this program was related to ‘K-pop’ music, several music sessions were prepared by both countries: learning how K-pop music is produced and experiencing the traditional musical instruments of Thailand. CJ ENM (South Korean entertainment and mass media company by CJ Group) artists prepared the formal classes, and the school’s students and teachers prepared the latter classes. It was impressive that CJ ENM donated the musical instruments, which were used during the session, to the Thailand school. Experiencing Thailand’s traditional musical instruments was very interesting and fun, and I think what made it possible (and fun) was because of the Thailand people’s kind instructions and help. We also visited several Buddhist temples and a night market.
On the last day, we watched a Thailand movie, “Love Battle” in a theatre, and finally we went to see the 2019 K-CON Thailand. What made us all surprised and thrilled was the video of us screened in front of numerous audiences before the start of the concert. The harmonious activities by Thailand and Korean students were shown. Not long after that, the concert began and all the people in the concert hall immersed into the excitement of K-pop.
After the concert, it was time to say goodbye to the Thailand students and to go back to Korea. Some cried and some exchanged contacts, with promises of coming to Korea or coming to Thailand again. When I finally boarded the plane and came back to Jeju, I somehow had a strange confidence that the memories from the last few days will last in my mind for a very long time, maybe for the rest of my life. I express gratitude again for all the kindness of the Thailand and Korean participants.