Essay Contest Result

I believe that improving the image of South Korea depends essentially on getting to people that never heard about the country. I believe that the path to get to them would be access this people and show them what Korea is and what opportunities the country can offer to them or to someone they know.

As a history lover and knowing the internet is present in a lot of homes today, I believe that combining the use of technology and information is essential, but the key part is how to use this. I had an art history teacher that did virtual guided tours in a lot of famous museums around the world, he gave opportunity to people that can't afford to travel for these places and attracted people that really like to know the history behind paintings, sculptures and what was the vision of the artists that made them.

I believe that Korea could do something like that using a tool that is very famous in the country nowadays, the metaverse. I heard about the doctoral project of a student in Kyung Hee University that used the metaverse to aloud people from all over the world to walk through places in Seoul in a ludic and fun way without having to leave their houses.

Beyond that, thinking about the audience being majorly young, I think the participation of some youtubers from all around the world would be extremely vital in these projects. They know what their followers like and look for, and they speak the same language of this generation, meaning that they would know better how to access and make people interested in knowing more of South Korea. Thinking about the different uses of this metaverse space they could be divided depending on topics regarding the interest and objectives of the users.

Thinking about the formation of the country and that most people have interest on knowing the history of the places they visit or live, one of the topics would be about history, where people would walk through the cities with a guide being a youtuber from their country that will tell histories of the country while passing by specific places.

As the majority of people are seeking today for opportunities to study in some other country to have better education and work opportunities, a topic as education would be fundamental, where people would visit, through metaverse, all the Universities in South Korea. Beyond thinking about curiosity some people feel a little insecure when consider moving to a whole different country than yours, so this also would give them confidence of getting to know the place they would be studying before moving there.

Work opportunities is something that a lot of people also have as a goal when going to South Korea so adapting this to the metaverse could be like a game, simulating people going to the companies and having interviews experiences, meetings. They would be doing tasks of their area of capacity as if it was a real simulator of real-life work.

The importance and the strength of the entertainment industry in South Korea it's very emblematic, so of course that must be also a topic in this metaverse world. People would visit all the K-pop companies, within the security limits, they could do meet and greet with the metaverse idols (such as aespa, for example, that even have metaverse characters) talk to them, and know about curiosities that nobody outside of this world knows. Besides K-pop Kdramas are strongly famous among South Korean lovers and one thing people always includes on their trip scripts while traveling is visiting the places where K-dramas were filmed, so this topic on metaverse reality could also do that.

The beauty world, skincare products, routines, techniques is also a very strong field looked for people who go to Korea, so in this part people could go to stores where these products are sold and have individual consults with beauty experts that would tell them information about their skin, which products would be better for them, how the composition of each product works, etc.

One of my favorite Korean traditions and behavior is their relationship with food and eating in general. I think is very interesting how the current weather and season have a strong influence on how and which food are going to be chosen. Also, the traditions regarding eating with older people than you, or people that are in a more formal position and the respect others owe to them. Sometimes is difficult to explain these habits to people that never heard of it, so having that experiences on metaverse alongside with explanations would really help with that. People would be entering the restaurants, eating and drinking with a selected group of people that could be their friends, boss, parents, veterans, freshman, etc. Then, according to how you act and react in the restaurant would appear on the screen explanations on what you are doing right or wrong and what Korean tradition is related your specific behavior.

If a huge team of experts stop to plan this a lot of topics and specifics details could be add and develop to this idea, but the most important to me is think about connecting people that could not go in person to South Korea, so that they could be included, feel that they belong, and have the opportunity to know more about this magnificent country that I particularly love so much.