Jeongseon Arirang moves Central Asia as BTS stirs America

The Donggang River, which begins in Jeongseon, carries with it a current of deep feeling. Long before Yeongwol had its musical drama The King's Warden, Jeongseon had its own stories — the Arari folk song, Arirang, the Auraji river crossing and the lives of the raftsmen who worked its waters.

Jeongseon Arirang, which has already moved audiences in Britain and Estonia, has now done the same in Central Asia.

While BTS — South Korea's century-defining global superstars and national pride — were electrifying American audiences and leading crowds in a mass singalong of "Arirang" in hangul, the folk song's other ambassadors were making their own mark thousands of miles away. BTS member Jimin kissed a young fan with a rare illness on the cheek during a Texas concert, drawing strong emotion from audiences in the United States and around the world.

The wave of feeling from Jeongseon reached Central Asia — the region where independence fighters and their descendants from the Russian Far East were forcibly relocated and came to be known as Goryeo-in, or Koryo-saram.

The Jeongseon Arirang Culture Foundation said Monday it had successfully completed a series of invited performances in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, again demonstrating the folk song's potential to resonate with audiences worldwide.

The foundation staged invited performances, cultural experience programs and busking events in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, bringing the spirit of Jeongseon Arirang to Central Asian audiences.

The performances were held in conjunction with a Korean Culture Day event organized by the Almaty Korean National Council to mark the 81st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The Overseas Koreans Agency, the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Almaty and the Korean Association of Kazakhstan all took part.

The Jeongseon County Arirang Arts Troupe performed "Ttekkun," a musical drama depicting the culture of Korean river rafting and the joys and sorrows of the raftsmen's lives, at the Goryeo Theater and the Megacenter outdoor theater in Almaty, drawing an enthusiastic response from local audiences.

At the Goryeo Theater, the foundation also ran an "Arirang School" for descendants of the Goryeo-in community, introducing the cultural significance of Jeongseon Arirang and giving participants a chance to learn and sing the folk song themselves.

On Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan and at Yntymak II Park in Bishkek, busking performances showcased not only Jeongseon Arirang but also samulnori, pungmul drumming and street procession performances, introducing tourists and local residents to the breadth of Korean traditional arts.

Jeongseon Arirang is a representative Korean folk song inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. In Central Asia, it has long served as a cultural asset and emotional touchstone for the Goryeo-in community.

The tour was praised for demonstrating both the historical depth and the popular appeal of the folk song — going beyond performance to help local audiences reflect on the painful history of the Kazakh Goryeo-in and deepen their understanding of and affection for Korean traditional culture.

The Jeongseon Arirang Culture Foundation plans to expand performances further — across Central Asia and beyond — while developing a wider range of Arirang cultural content to promote Jeongseon Arirang on the world stage.

Choe Jong-su, chairman of the Jeongseon Arirang Culture Foundation, said the tour was "a meaningful occasion that again confirmed Jeongseon Arirang — inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — is a cultural heritage capable of communicating with people around the world across national borders." He added that the foundation would "continue to expand international exchange through overseas performances and the development of diverse Jeongseon Arirang cultural content, and work to establish Jeongseon Arirang as a globally recognized cultural asset."