South Korea: Oman guest of honour at Seoul International Book Fair
Oman is taking part in the 66th Seoul International Book Fair 2024 as a distinguished guest to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Omani-Korean diplomatic relations.
Oman’s pavilion features publications from government and civil society institutions, tourism promotion, Arabic calligraphy and rare Omani manuscripts.
The pavilion allows visitors to learn about Omani customs and traditions. It offers a Virtual Reality display of some of the Omani entries in the UNESCO World List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including the Al-Bar’ah, a Bedouin musical tradition from the Dhofar mountains in southern Oman, and the Omani dagger, alongside visual presentations about Oman's cultural and tourist attractions.
The pavilion represents the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism.
Omani cultural programmes include a dialogue session called “The Novel… The Amazement of the Omani Narrative”, and feminist literature depicting daily life for women in Korea and Oman. Other features include a look at fifty years of Omani-Korean relations and the prospects for cooperation between the Arabic and Korean languages.
Oman's Ambassador to the Republic of South Korea, Zakariya bin Hamad Alsaadi, delivered a speech celebrating the distinguished relations between the two countries. He stressed the efforts made by the exhibition to promote reading and its values and interest in books and publishing houses, in addition to its role in building bridges of cooperation, intercultural communication and the promotion of deeper understanding between nations.
The Ambassador said participation in this year’s exhibition coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Korea, marked by a new book entitled “Oman: A Long History of Friendship and Cooperation with Korea”, written by Professor Lee Hee-soo, published in Korean and translated into Arabic.
The book covers areas of cooperation that have taken place over half a century since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1974, in addition to the ancient trade in the seventh century between the two countries.
The Ambassador presented the Omani novel, “Ladies of the Moon” by Jokha Alharthi, winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize, translated into Korean to facilitate the access of Omani literature to Korean readers and those interested in Omani culture.
He said the pavilion was an opportunity to explore the cultural, literary and historical treasures of the Sultanate of Oman and tells great stories filled with rich traditions, deep wisdom and a unique perspective on the human experience.
He said the pavilion aims to introduce Omani intellectual production and the cultural and civilizational component of the Sultanate and contains a diverse exhibition of rare manuscripts and Arabic calligraphy.