Appointment of a PR ambassador for '2009 Gwangju Kimchi Festival'

- The world's renowned chef Edward Kwon and actress Kim Jeong-eun begin their duties as PR ambassadors -
- At Youngbinkwan (Emerald Room), the Shilla Seoul at 11AM on July 28 -

Gwangju City begins to accelerate the globalization of Kimchi by appointing PR ambassadors for '2009 Gwangju Kimchi Festival.'

At 11AM on July 28, the municipal authority held a '2009 Gwangju Kimchi Festival' fair and PR Ambassador Appointment Ceremony with the attendance of local and foreign news reporters and Kimchi experts at the Shilla Seoul Youngbinkwan.

Edward Kwon, the head chef of the opulent seven-star Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, and Kim Jeong-eun, the main actress of the movie 'Sikgaek II ? Kimchi War,' Jin Gu and Geum Hyo-min were named as special Kimchi ambassadors.

It is expected that they would play an important role in spreading Kimchi culture all over the world.

On July 13 with 100 days to go until the '2009 Gwangju Kimchi Festival,' the municipal government held the 4th festival promotion committee meeting and confirmed a master plan for the festival with 45 programs in 5 sectors. In fact, the PR ambassador appointment ceremony is the first official event since then.

In particular, the ceremony is more significant because Gwangju City succeeded in attracting World Kimchi Research Institute on July 15, which would help the city develop into a hub of world Kimchi research activities and center city for globalization of Korean cuisines including Kimchi. Furthermore, because of a systematic research-industry-festival connection, Gwangju would keep maintaining its great reputation as a city of Kimchi.

After the PR ambassador appointment ceremony, various fun and interesting Kimchi-related events (ex : Fusion Kimchi cuisines served by the ambassadors, etc.)
were held.

For example, Edward Kwon introduced Kimchi Baba Ganoush made of Kimchi and mutton tenderloin while the actress Kim and Jin Gu made Bulgogi Kimchi Salad. Especially, attendants were very happy to see the world's renowned chef Edward Kwon's cuisine in person. This event was meaningful in making people aware of the value of healthy and nutritious Kimchi.

Furthermore, a huge map of Kimchi made of Kimchi from eight provinces has been introduced in a wish for the success of Gwangju Kimchi Festival nationally and internationally.

One official from Gwangju City said, "With the success in attracting World Kimchi Research Institute, we are going to make continued efforts in spreading the excellence of Gwangju Kimchi all over the world and globalizing Korean cuisines through various programs."

He continued, "The PR ambassadors will play an active role in advertising the festival by engaging in various events such as 'I LOVE KIMCHI' charity work. He also added, "I hope that many people would visit Gwangju again for World Photonics EXPO 2009 and Design Biennale in October."