NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 19, 2025--
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in partnership with the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), will host the “ Experience Your Korea” K-Tourism Roadshow Festival at PenFed Plaza, Tysons Corner Center, VA, from Saturday, August 23 rd to Sunday, August 24 th, 2025.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250819162439/en/
This interactive consumer event is designed to expand the inbound tourism market from the U.S. East Coast by offering immersive cultural experiences. In celebration of the 2025 APEC Summit in Gyeongju this November, the event aims to engage residents of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., a hub of politics and diplomacy.
Following the recent success of the Korean original musical Maybe Happy Ending, which won six Tony Awards, and the international popularity of Squid Game Season 3 and K-Pop Demon Hunters, global interest in K-content continues to grow. This event will showcase Korea’s vibrant culture, food, and beauty, offering opportunities for families and K-culture fans, while also driving growth in inbound travel to Korea.
“This Roadshow will allow visitors to experience the Korea they have seen on screen in real life,” said Heejin Cho, executive director of the American for KTO’s New York office. “We are committed to transforming the heightened interest in Korea sparked by K-content into actual visits to Korea.”
The Roadshow will feature over 20 participating organizations, including the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., Korean Air, bb.q Chicken, Nongshim, and leading K-beauty brands.
Event Highlights
Programs will run over two days, offering unique opportunities to experience Korea’s culture, art, food, beauty, and regional tourism:
For schedule and program details, please visit: https://koreanow.us/experience-your-korea/
About Korea Tourism Organization
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) is a public organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) of the Republic of Korea. KTO serves the interests of Korea’s tourism economy by marketing the country as an all-season destination. With its rich history, dynamic culture, amazing food, and welcoming people, Korea is one of the most vibrant destinations in Asia. From ancient mountaintop temples such as Bulguksa to cutting-edge landmarks like Lotte World Tower in Seoul, Korea offers unforgettable experiences that bridge tradition and modernity.
Experience Your Korea: K-Culture Roadshow Festival
The leaders of major media companies around the world, including The Associated Press, are calling on Israel's government to lift a ban keeping foreign journalists from being able to independently enter and report from Gaza, a barrier that's been in place since the war's start in 2023 and continues even as a ceasefire has been in place for more than six months.
“Being on the ground is essential. It allows journalists to question official accounts on all sides, to speak directly with civilians and report back what they witness firsthand,” said the statement from the executives, released Thursday. “That is why news organizations send their reporters into the field, often at great personal risk.”
From the AP and the BBC to CNN to MS NOW, from Reuters to German news agency dpa to The Washington Post, the top editors of more than two dozen organizations said the Israeli government has so far not responded to their efforts to discuss the situation. They questioned the country's rationales for why the restrictions are still in place.
The letter was released at 5 a.m. ET by the local foreign press association.
Initially, Israel said the ban was necessary because foreign journalists allowed into Gaza could give away the positions of Israeli soldiers and endanger them. Other rationales have included that as an active battle zone, it was too dangerous. The army has occasionally brought foreign reporters in on highly controlled trips, but media outlets want independent access.
Currently, “the heaviest fighting is over and there is a ceasefire in place," the editors' statement said. "The hostages have come home. Journalists do not pose a threat to Israeli troops. There is a mechanism in place—however restrictive—that allows aid workers to enter and exit the territory. Why not journalists?”
There have been attempts at legal action to force the issue. The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, has been waiting on a decision from the Israeli Supreme Court on a petition for independent access to Gaza. That action was filed in 2024, but a ruling has been repeatedly delayed, most recently in January.
With foreign journalists kept out of, coverage of the conditions on the ground there has been possible only for local Palestinian journalists. While covering war would be fraught for any reporter, the Palestinian correspondents have also had to experience it on a personal level — their homes destroyed, their loved ones killed.
When access to food became severely restricted last year they also had to deal with hunger, to the point that the Agence France-Presse news agency in July raised an alarm about their Palestinian colleagues' continued survival. That concern was echoed by the AP and Reuters for the reporters in Gaza they work with.
The editors raised that point in the statement Thursday, saying “this has pushed the responsibility for covering this devastating war and its aftermath almost entirely on our Palestinian colleagues ... They should not have to shoulder this burden alone, and they should be protected.”
Their lives have also been put at risk from military actions. Well over 200 journalists and media workers have been killed according to a tally from the Committee to Protect Journalists organization, far more than in conflicts elsewhere like the Russia-Ukraine war.
Among them was Mariam Dagga, a 33-year-old visual journalist who worked as a freelancer for the AP and other news organizations. She and four other journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist who worked with Reuters, were among those killed last August in an Israeli strike on a medical facility.
The AP's reporting on the strike raised questions about the rationale used by the Israeli government to carry out the action against the hospital, which was known as a place where journalists gathered. AP and Reuters later issued a statement calling on Israel to explain what took place and what steps would be taken to protect reporters. The Israeli military says it is still investigating.
The statement from the editors on Thursday came during Press Freedom Week, which they noted. “Freedom of the press is a basic value in any open society. It is time for the delays to end. Let us into Gaza.”
FILE - Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
FILE - Freelance journalist Mariam Dagga, 33, who had been working with the Associated Press and other outlets during the Gaza war, poses for a portrait in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
FILE - Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that was unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
FILE - Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
FILE - A truck driver picks up humanitarian aid designated for Gaza, as reporters tour the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing where aid is awaiting pickup, on Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
