Accepting the highest honor, the Korea Image Stepping Stone Award, as a representative of the “creativity of hallyu,” Psy said he believed the “competitiveness of hallyu lay in its fierce intensity and careful detail. The first goal of artists here is to be popular among the Korean public, and they have high standards.”

According to Psy, hallyu content that is presented abroad is high-caliber because it has already been crafted carefully for the domestic market.

The panelists of “Non-Summit” given the Korea Image Stepping Stone Bridge Award included Tyler Rasch from the U.S., Alberto Mondi from Italy, Guillaume Patry from Canada and Zhang Yuan from China. 

In accepting the award, Rasch said, “‘Non-Summit’ allowed us to connect foreigners living in Korea with those living abroad, and Korean people living in Korea. It was a very meaningful show. We were grateful every time we were on set, and it was a big honor.”

“Non-Summit” brings together non-Korean men living in Korea to share their cultural differences and thoughts about Korean life.

Clara Jumi Kang, a classical violinist whose musical achievements were credited with helping raise the profile of Korean classical musicians abroad, received the Korea Image Flower Stone Award. Although she was born abroad, and became the youngest student to enroll at the Mannheim Musikhochschule at the age of 4, she returned to Korea to study under Kim Nam-yun at Korea National University of Arts, saying it was her “destiny” in a way to return.

The ceremony marked the 12th year of the Korea Image Awards given by CICI, an institute registered under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism that devotes itself to promoting the positive image of Korea. CICI’s other work involves symposiums, seminars and meetings, such as the Culture Communication Forum, and gatherings such as the 5-4 Club, which focuses on how to best engage the five senses to introduce Korea in four different ways.

This year’s CICI Korea was held at the InterContinental Seoul Coex, and drew about 700 top business figures, opinion leaders and foreign envoys, including Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok, former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert and soccer star Park Ji-sung.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)