“Deputy Minister! Please sign.”
“Please come to our booth and take a photo for proof.” When Second Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Jang Mi-ran appeared at the ‘2023 Cultural City Expo’ event held at Bongraenaru Water Yard Street
in Yeongdo, Busan on the 8th, cheers and applause poured in from all over. This is the first time that Vice Minister Jang has officially visited Busan since he was surprisingly메이저사이트 selected as the youngest vice minister at the end of June. He has been attracting a lot of attention at every site he has visited recently, but the hospitality in Busan was different. Initially, Vice Minister Jang was scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the Cultural City Expo at 6 p.m. on this day, but due to delays in the National Assembly schedule, he arrived at the event venue around 9 p.m. Although all events had already ended, when Vice Minister Jang appeared in the lobby of the expo-only accommodation, local cultural city center officials and tourists from all over the country gathered to exchange greetings.
They lined up one after another to get Vice Minister Jang’s autograph or take a photo together. As the line got longer, a hotel official brought a chair for Vice Minister Jang, who was signing autographs, making it reminiscent of a ‘fan meeting’ scene.
This atmosphere continued even during the on-site inspection schedule on the morning of the next day (the 9th). Starting around 9 a.m., Vice Minister Jang visited Momos Coffee, where the ‘Local Cultural Salon’ program was held, Nameless Diary, and Wonji Restaurant, where the ‘Culture City Promotion Center’ was installed. Even here, cultural content small business owners and planners from 24 cultural cities across the country seemed busy trying to make eye contact with Vice Minister Jang. There was also a local content planner who asked Vice Minister Jang, who was born in Wonju, Gangwon-do, to file a complaint about cultural issues in the Wonju region.
This official requested, “We are working to preserve the OO Theater, which is scheduled for demolition in Wonju, and make it a place for local cultural contents. We hope you will show interest.”Vice Minister Jang then toured ‘Anonymous Diary’ and ‘Wonji Restaurant’, which are credited with contributing to the transformation of Water Yard Street, which used to be a dock warehouse street, into a coffee specialty street designated by Busan City and a hot place frequented by families and couples. He made a promise on the spot, saying, “You’ve created a nice space, but instead of a formal event like this, I’ll come here privately to have fun with my close friends.”
Vice Minister Jang’s popularity did not fade even at the 24 cultural city promotion centers across the country selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism four times since 2014. This is because he was the most well-known celebrity among the visitors during the four-day exhibition period. Although Vice Minister Jang also did not have enough time to inspect the site, he stopped by most of the cultural city center promotional booths, took certified photos with employees, and made efforts to directly experience cultural content.
Lastly, at Blue Port 21, about 40 Yeongdo residents who participated in the opening ceremony performance ‘Dancing Yeongdo’ greeted Vice Minister Jang. They formed a team of people born and raised in Yeongdo, ranging from children in their 70s, and were evaluated as having shown a successful performance after several months of practice.
A female participant in her 70s expressed her thoughts after finishing the performance, saying, “I started as a member of the Culture City club. While practicing, my back hurt and I was tired, so there were times when I thought, ‘Is this right?’, but it was worthwhile because the visitors enjoyed the performance.” revealed.
Lastly, Vice Minister Jang said, “I hope that the good wind of the cultural city, with participation from teenagers to those in their 70s, will start from Yeongdo and spread to many places.” He added, “I hope that the influence of good culture will continue to spread beyond Busan and throughout cultural cities across the country.” “Please do your best to make it happen,” he said, encouraging them while taking a group photo together.