Korea Tourism Organization Collaborates with TV and Youtube Personalities for Its Global Campaign, "buzz KOREA"

SEOUL, South Korea, March 24, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Korea Tourism Organization announced today that they are launching a global online campaign called "buzz KOREA" (www.buzz-korea.com) introducing Korean food culture to audiences around the world with the help of a Hollywood star and famous YouTube musicians.

The global online campaign primarily targets English, Chinese and Japanese-speaking countries by highlighting different aspects of Korea and providing a platform where creative contents are voluntarily shared, re-created and expanded. A Korean cooking contest and a mini-drama are just two ways in which the English speaking community can enjoy the campaign.

The "Korean Food, Top Chef Challenge", organized by Korea Tourism Organization with Cathlyn Choi as the hostess, who is also the producer of Cathlyn's Korean Kitchen, the only Korean TV Cooking Show in English, followed the 6 best American chefs facing a challenge to present Korean food. Shot live, it will now be aired through KOCE/OC channels of PBS on April 7th. In addition, mostly known for his role as Ando Masahashi from NBC's popular TV series, Heroes, James Kyson Lee, a Korean-American Hollywood movie and TV star is participating in the challenge as a judge. During his exclusive interview with PBS, he revealed his affection toward Korean food and its possibilities to be enjoyed by the citizens of the world. People who are interested can visit buzz KOREA's homepage and watch the interview and behind-the-scenes footage featuring the participating chefs.

The buzz KOREA is also inviting the general public to join in and vote for their favorite chef through "Who Will Be the Winner?" voting event, where footage of the chefs can be found as well. The event, which gives away prizes such as MacBook Air and iPad, is open until March 30th through buzz KOREA's website.

Featuring Clara C. and Jennifer Chung, who are the rising stars of YouTube gaining prominence by their YouTube audience, a 3-minute long omnibus mini-drama was produced by Jubilee Project that has gained popularity. The two Korean-American stars are proud of their Korean heritage and gladly participated in this promotion of Korean tourism through a variety of traditional food. The video footage is scheduled to be released simultaneously through YouTube and buzz KOREA's campaign site.

Jubilee Project has been producing short video footage dealing with a wide range of social issues in America and leading public opinion by sharing their views with other YouTube users. With their newly created asset, KTO is now moving onto progressive promotion strategies targeting the young generation that is familiar with these types of media and channels.

Lee Charm, the CEO of the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "they would like to see the wide-spreading of the Korean culture and food to the American audience through this global campaign where popular YouTube and Hollywood stars in the United States are participating, and that they are expecting increased activities of internet users and their online contents to be shared voluntarily, in terms of Korean charms and information."

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SOURCE Korea Tourism Organization