The Corea Image Communication Institute held a glitzy ceremony on Thursday to present its annual awards to the groups and individuals who have done an exceptional job of promoting Korea to the world.
Won Jung-hwan reports.

The CICI is dedicated to promoting Korean culture around the world, and every year the organization selects individuals or groups that contribute to such efforts.
This year's ceremony was held in Seoul on Thursday to commemorate three winners who have worked to spread a positive image of Korea both locally and abroad.

The first award went to British YouTubers Josh and Ollie, who are seen as a key bridge to Korean culture for foreigners.
Korean Englishman, an extremely popular YouTube channel that shows British people experiencing Korean culture and lifestyle, has attracted over three million YouTube subscribers.
While they have been travelling between Korea and the U.K. to produce a variety of interesting Korean culture videos,… the duo are planning something even bigger this year.

"One of the things that we are going to do in Korean Englishman little bit more, I think it is safe for me to say, is we just filmed a video recently with a Korean celebrity where he introduce something that he likes about Korean culture to us, little bit of drinking culture, little bit of something different."

Another award went to South Korean born ballet dancer Park Sae-eun, who recently won best female dancer at the ( ) Benois de la Danse, known as the Oscars of the dance awards.
Park, who performs at the Paris Opera Ballet of France, said she's proud knowing she has contributed to paving the road for the next generation of Korean ballet dancers.

"Two young Korean dancers joined me in Paris recently. I think my crew is confident about their future as they have watched my development since I was young."

But nonetheless, spreading Korean culture to the world wouldn't be possible without the last winner, the Korean language.
Korean is now a language that millions of people want to learn and it will act as a stepping stone in promoting Korea around the world in the years to come.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.