Mr Non Kyu-duk, the South Korean Ambassador to Nigeria commended the Nigerian dance team Pacific Stars, who emerged overall winner at the 2015 K-Pop World Festival at Changwon city in Korean.
Kyu-duk gave the commendation on Saturday in Abuja as he declared open the 2016 K-Pop Dance competition.
“I want to congratulate Pacific Stars who came first in Changwon city last year, Nigeria became the first ever African team to win the prize since the inception of the competition in 2011.
“Out of 67 countries and 151 team that participated at the preliminary round, only 14 team competed in the finals.
“The Nigeria’s Pacific Stars clinched the best prize; the won the grand prize,’’ he said.
The Korean ambassador said that he was impressed by the creativity exhibited by T-Sod, who was last year’s winner of K-Pop in Nigeria.
He said that the group put up a scintillating performance at the world festival in Korean and were honoured as an ambassador of K-Pop in Nigeria.
He said that on their arrival to Nigeria from the competition, the team partnered with Kaduna State Government to organise K-Pop dance competition in the state.
Kyu-duk said that the competition had witnessed increased participation in 2016.
“This year, K-Pop has also seen increased participation; 184 people and 34 teams is another new record since 2012 when the event made its debut in Nigeria.
“We welcome for the first time team from Taraba, Adamawa, Cross River, Katsina and Bayelsa States respectively.
“This shows that K-Pop is spreading fast, not only in Nigeria, but the whole world,’’ Kyu-duk said.
According to him, the 2016 Nigeria winner will be able to apply for the 2016 World K-Pop Festival to hold in Changwon City, Korea in September.
He called on participants to put in their best and to understand that there would be winners and lossers.
“Even if you do not win, you can put in more effort to participate and win in the next year’s edition,’’ he said.
The Director, National Council for Arts and Culture, Dr Lizzy Iheancho said the dance competition was an avenue for Nigerian youths to showcase their talents as well as discover other talents inherent in them.
Iheancho advised the participants at the competition to endeavour to explore their talents and engage in activities that would showcase them irrespective of the outcome of the results.
The Deputy Director, National Gallery of Art, Mrs Ngozi Ukah commended the efforts of the Korean government for providing a platform to exhibit culture, particularly dance and language.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the K-Pop Dance Competition is an annual events organised by the Korean Cultural Centre.
The 2016 K-Pop competition is the 5th edition in the country in which the overall winner will represent the country at the World K-Pop Festival in South Korean later in the year.