The Arab Cultural Festival was first held in 2008 in line with the establishment of Korea-Arab Society. This year, the Arab Cultural Festival is celebrating its 11th year. The festival, which will promote diverse programs including C-Festival: "Arab Pavilion" and Arab Film Festival, is designed to help the Korean public to understand Arab culture in a friendly manner and lay the foundation for forging closer friendships between Korea and Arab countries.

Korea-Arab Society

Korea-Arab Society (KAS) is a non-profit incorporated foundation established by both governments, corporations and related organizations to promote exchanges and cooperation between Korea and 22 Arab countries. Since its establishment in 2008, Korea-Arab Society has been developing and implementing various cooperation and support projects every year in all fields including politics and economics, society and culture so as to establish a true partnership between Korea and Arab countries.

KAS is actively seeking ways to increase opportunities for cultural exchanges between the two regions by organizing events such as 'Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan' and 'Arab Cultural Festival'. Also, KAS supports people-to-people exchange of students and business people and work on projects that enable both Koreans and Arabs to gain a better understanding in a whole spectrum of fields including politics, economy, arts, and science.

www.korea-arab.org

A few things you didn't know about Arab World!

1. What is the definition of 'Arab'? 'Arab' refers to the twenty-two countries located in West Asia and North Africa whose people speak Arabic. 'Arab' is a cultural classification rather than a geographic or racial category. First, Arabs speak Arabic as their mother tongue; second, Arabs follow the religion of Islam; and third, Arabs are the group of people who claim to be the Arab people.

2.Does the term 'Middle East' come to be synonymous for 'Arab'? If not, what is the difference? 'The Middle East' is a geographic and political classification used by the British Empire to control the world in the late 19th century. As Great Britain saw itself as the center of the world, the region to its east was called 'the Orient', Asia was 'the Far East', the area comprising the Balkan Peninsula and Greece was called 'the Near East', and the middle region in the Arab world was called 'the Middle East'. In general the term Middle East covers most of the Arab countries but also includes Iran, Israel, and Turkey-countries where the people don't speak Arabic.

3. What is the difference between 'Islam' and 'Arab' Islam is the name of religion. Islamic countries include not only the Middle East and Arab countries, but also all those countries whose people are followers of Islam in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Africa. Thus, Islam extends far beyond the borders of the Arab World.