Nowon-gu District Chief Oh Seung-rok welcomed ambassadors from coffee-producing nations to the Gyeongchun Line Gongreung Forest Coffee Festival on Saturday evening before officially declaring the event open.
The ambassador reception, the first event of the day, was held at Malverk, a coffee grinder exhibition hall inside the Dokkaebi Market in Gongreung-dong. Diplomats and officials from 12 countries attended, including Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing and Peruvian Ambassador Paul Fernando Duclos Parodi.
Dai Bing, attending the festival for the second consecutive year, said he was grateful for the invitation and had come hoping the event would help advance ongoing exchanges and cooperation.
The opening ceremony then moved to the main stage, where Oh presented the attending ambassadors with coffee ceramic sets made at the Choansan Pottery Experience Center and gave out awards to winners of the K-Coffee Award, formally marking the start of the festival.
Now in its fourth year, the Gyeongchun Line Gongreung Forest Coffee Festival is Seoul's first coffee culture festival organized by an autonomous district, centered on the café strip near the Gyeongchun Line Forest Path in Gongreung-dong. Running Saturday and Sunday, this year's festival features 141 booths bringing together local cafés from the Gongreung-dong commercial district, well-known cafés from across the country, and representatives from roughly 20 coffee-producing nations, who are promoting their beans and showcasing cultural performances.
Along the 1.1-kilometer festival grounds stretching from Gongreung Station to the Dongbu Apartment intersection and through the Gyeongchun Line Forest Path, the district set up a range of attractions: hands-on experience booths, photo zones, a main stage and busking stage, a youth market, and rest areas. The festival is set to close Sunday at 7 p.m. with an awards ceremony for the winner of the Local Coffee Competition, chosen by visitors through a blind taste test.
"I am grateful to the ambassadors for joining us and helping make this coffee festival a venue for cultural exchange," Oh said. "I hope the Gyeongchun Line Gongreung Forest Coffee Festival continues to grow as a leading coffee festival in Korea, and that everyone who visits leaves with joy and a special memory."
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