This year's top five top Honorary Reporters on Nov. 5 take a group photo at the Korea.net office in Seoul's Jongno-gu District. From left are Yulia Veselchakova from Russia; Manuel Guthmann from Germany; Frenky Ramiro de Jesus from East Timor; Ilse Gabriela Diaz Gasca from Mexico; and Foteini Chatzoudi from Greece. (Lee Jun Young)
By Aisylu Akhmetzianova
"Write with a cold head but with a warm heart."
This is what Manuel Guthmann from Germany would advise those wishing to become Honorary Reporters for Korea.net.
Among Korea.net's 1,386 Honorary Reporters from 93 countries this year, five of them earned the opportunity to visit Korea for their outstanding work. The program's top 10 writers of the year were selected based on criteria Korea.net announced early this year.
Two of the 10 were excluded for the trip since they went to Korea last year, an inevitable decision to allow more Honorary Reporters to visit the country.
This is the list of this year's top 10 Honorary Reporters. (Program's official website)
The five who visited Korea this year were Frenky Ramiro de Jesus from East Timor; Yulia Veselchakova from Russia; Manuel Guthmann; Ilse Gabriela Diaz Gasca from Mexico; and Foteini Chatzoudi from Greece. Each described Korea from their own perspectives to shed light on and share Hallyu (Korean Wave) worldwide.
Saying his interest in Korea began as a student, Ramiro said he even decided to pursue a medical career after watching the historical K-drama "Jewel in the Palace (Dae Janggeum)." Thus Korea provided a major breakthrough in his life.
Now a master's student at a medical school in Korea, he visits in his free time hidden attractions and writes articles about them like Paju Book City in Paju, Gyeonggi-do Province; Hanbam Village in Gunwi-gun County of Daegu; Daegu Kansong Art Museum; and Pyeongtaek Agro-Ecological Park in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do Province.
"Planning before writing an article is most important," Ramiro said. "If you can't think of ideas, it helps to find read as many Korea.net articles and information on Korea as you can."
Veselchakova said her introduction to Korea began in 2017 thanks to her daughter, a student at the time. She said she was gradually captivated by Korean culture while learning about the country, something that led to her joining Honorary Reporters in 2022.
Through her in-depth articles on things like interviews and visits to events, she has promoted dynamic and diverse aspects of Korean culture. She has introduced readers to people who connect Korea and Russia like historians, social influencers and musicians.
"I got uneasy or nervous when contacting people I didn't know. I sometimes got rejected," she said when talking about the difficulties in finding people to interview. In a calm voice, however, Veselchakova said she never gave up and kept searching for topics and interviewees.
Guthmann, considered a goodwill ambassador for Korea, said he was deeply impressed by Korea's culture and atmosphere during his first visit to Seoul in 2019. He said he stumbled on Korea.net when looking for information on Korea and joined Honorary Reporters last year.
From June to Nov. 11, Korea.net has posted on its main page 14 of his articles on his experiences in the country such as with soju (clear liquor), games of the Korean Baseball Organization, traditional holidays, and the domestic culture of dining out and takeout.
"I remember most my article on the differences between weddings in Korea and Germany," a smiling Guthmann said. "I always compare the cultures of both countries when writing an article and introduce interesting points."
From left to right are articles written by Frenky Ramiro de Jesus from East Timor, Yulia Veselchakova from Russia and Manuel Guthmann from Germany. (Screen capture from Korea.net's official website)
In addition, Korea.net's top five K-influencers, or creators of videos promoting Korea, and the three winners of Talk Talk Korea, a global content contest for Hallyu, attended an invitational familiarization tour from Nov. 1-7 of Seoul and Chungcheongbuk-do Province, where they visited Danyang-gun County and Jecheon.
