Korean Society celebrates special day with beach clean-up

27 February 2004

Christchurch’s Korean Society is organising a local beach clean- up to mark Korea Day 2004 on Monday 1 March.

About 50 Korean people will remove litter from the beach between Spencer Park and Bottle Lake Forest, with Christchurch City Council park rangers lending assistance with rubbish removal and transport.

Korean Society president Steve Kim said, the event was an opportunity for Korean people living in Christchurch to show how much they treasure their new home.  “It’s a chance for us to give something back.”

“We told people about it through the local Korean media and have had 50 offers of help so far,” he said.

This year’s Korea Day will also be marked with a Christchurch Korean Song Contest at the Fendalton Community Centre Auditorium at 7.00pm.

Korea Day has been celebrated in Christchurch on 1 March each year since Christchurch formed a sister-city relationship with Songpa-Gu, Seoul, Korea in 1995.

“The Council was approached about marking Korea Day in recognition of the large number of Korean people in the city,” Clyde Sugden, Christchurch-Songpa-Gu Sister City Committee chair said. There are about 5000 Korean people now living in Christchurch.

Mr Sugden said “the first of March is a significant day for Korean people as it commemorates the start of the independence movement against Japanese colonial rule in Korea in 1919.  It is a national holiday in South Korea.”

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