The Korea Herald

소아쌤

Visitors flock to Korean booth at LA book festival

By KH디지털2

Published : April 11, 2016 - 09:46

    • Link copied

Visitors continued to drop by the Korean booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Sunday, many of them younger people attracted to Korean culture amid "hallyu," or the worldwide popularity of Korean pop music and TV dramas.

The annual book fair, which is in its 21st year, opened Saturday for a two-day run on the University of Southern California campus. About 300 publishing firms are participating in the event, with some 150,000 people expected to visit.

On display at the Korean booth set up by the Korea Foundation were 39 kinds of books and videos about Korean culture, history, food and other aspects of Korea. In particular, visitors showed interest in a smartphone application that offers animated versions of three of the most popular Korean fairy tales.

Last year, the foundation presented a book introducing some 800 kinds of Korean food at the festival.

"Despite bad weather, about 300 people visited the Korean booth yesterday," said Kim Byeong-gon, head of the Korea Foundation's LA office. "Books introducing Korea are popular thanks to the effects of hallyu." (Yonhap)