Oct 19, 2005, 16:36 GMT
Frankfurt - Women publishers in the national costume of Korea brought a splash of colour Wednesday to the first day of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's biggest annual book exhibition.
Jung il Lee and Jung Hyun Lee (R) from Korea, dressed in traditional costumes, welcome visitors to the book fair in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, 18 October 2005. Dancers of the 'Korean National University of Performing Arts' perform during the fair as part of the programme introducing this year's host country Korea. More than 7,000 publishing houses from around the world will be presenting their latest publications and classic book releases covering the entire width of literature at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which runs until October 23rd. EPA/Boris Roessler
As guest of honour, South Korea has spent 15 million euros (18 million dollars) on a programme of cultural events in German cities and a glossy presentation of its world-beating history of printing, showing that Buddhist monks first used metal moveable type in 1377.
That was decades before a German named Johannes Gutenberg printed a bible near Frankfurt in 1455 and came to be credited as the father of printing because the west was unaware of the Koreans' feat.
Korean themes were to be seen in many locations at the fair. These ranged from the brightly coloured, long flowing skirts of the women's costumes to a show of Korean-style comics, or manhwa, in the fair's comic centre and a taekwondo martial arts show in the open air.
Korea's spicy national dish, kimchi, made from marinated cabbage was offered to fair visitors along with Korean beverages. Cooks explained that kimchi is credited with protecting against colds and is a home cure against all manner of illnesses.
Early Korean printing and calligraphy were presented in one pavilion at the fair, while modern South Korean publishers occupied their own aisle of another, more business-like pavilion where they and other Asian publishers were hustling for book-export deals.
Underlining the fast growth of Korean publishing, the Koreans also brought to Frankfurt a seven-metre-long scale model of a real-estate development, Paju Book City, created 30 kilometres from central Seoul as a low-rise, office area for publishing enterprises.
An organizer of the Korean presentation, Stefan Stohl, said first- day attendance at the Korean cultural programmes was on a par with that for other nations' guest of honour presentations in previous years.
Attendance at Korean literary readings had been very good, he said. The fair is supposed to be reserved to booksellers, the press and intellectuals on its first three days and will be open to the German general public on Saturday and its last day, Sunday.
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