Rhee In-yong, president of Samsung Group, invited the winners of Corea Image Communication Institute’s 2013 speech contest to a luncheon and discussion on cultural topics on Thursday.

Rhee and the winners discussed and exchanged ideas about the “Meaning of the success of the Korean wave and new areas of the Korean wave,” “New keyword for 2013 Korea” and “Multicultural Korea.”

“Korea is opening up to the world and I hope you will become the bridge between Korea and the outside world,” he said at the congratulatory luncheon held at a restaurant in southern Seoul. 

He has been a supporter of the contest, provided the venue for last year’s contest, and offered the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Tab as prizes this year.

Among this year’s winners, the grand-prize winners Mamadjanov Zohid (Uzbekistan); Choi Jin-seop; PIKO (a team of Filipino students); Jung Joo-ah; Torrin Mike (U.S.); and Ozkoc Duygu (Turkey) attended the luncheon. Finalist Wang Chao (China), was participating in the contest for the second year in a row, while sisters Tatiana and Natalia Kogan (Russia) also attended.

Woo Jin-yung, director of Korean Culture and Information Service; Choi Jung-wha, president of CICI; and Kim Hyun-taek, professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, were also guests at the congratulatory lunch. The contest was organized by CICI under the title “Communicating for a Brighter Future of Korea” at the Seoul Museum in Buam-dong on April 13.

By Suh Hye-rim (sheren6735@heraldcorp.com)