'Tuk Tuk' marry off to Korea

The ASEAN Cultural House (ACH) in Korea asked 'Tuk Tuk' donation to H.E. Mr. Moon, to promote Thai culture. As Ms. Marisa Chearavanont, CP Group's special advisor to senior chairman, accepted H.E. Mr. Moon's suggestion for donation, Tuk Tuk finally goes to Korea. On the ceremony, Thai-Korean original dance performance on the basis of both countries’ traditional dance showed to express Thai-Korean soft power exchange: the bride, 'Tuk Tuk' marry the Korean groom.

The ceremony started with 'Samulnori', Korean traditional percussion music by four musical instruments, playing by 12 students from the Korean International School in Bangkok. Then, Acting Sub Lt. Saksom Panthong and Ms. Kasama Thongaram, official performance artists from the Ministry of Culture, performed 'Taepyeongmu', which is the Korean dance wishing peace and prosperity, and 'Ram Thai'. Saksom learnt the Korean dance during the five months when he stayed in Korea in 2018 as the CPI (Cultural Partnership Initiative), supported by the ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, and he perfomed 'Taepyeongmu' and 'Khon' together last May in the center.

The plot of the performance was Saksom, the Korean groom, meet the Thai bride and marry her, with the help of his father (H.E. Mr. Moon) and bride's mother (Ms. Marisa).

H.E. Mr. Moon said "Today's event was hosted as Ms. Marisa gladly accepted the donation request of Tuk Tuk, which is a symbol of Thailand to Korea. I hope that many Koreans watching this Tuk Tuk at ACH in Busan, recall good memories in Thailand or get to know about Thailand. As recently Thailand seek to promote its own soft power, this event will be one of the soft power cooperation cases between Korea and Thailand."

Ms. Marisa said, "By this opportunity, I wish the relationship between Thailand and Korea strengthen and it will be the milestone of both countries' exchange. As a Thai businessman, I would like to give help to Korean companies which has interest or expand their business to Thailand."

ACH, opened in 2017 in Busan, promote various culture of 10 ASEAN countries including Thailand. Especially, Thailand and Korea have the great human exchange. For example, before Covid-19, almost 1.9 million Korean visited Thailand and 0.5 million Thai travelled Korea. The donated 'Tuk Tuk' will be the symbol of the friendship and recovery of the human exchange between Thailand and Korea and promote Thailand in ACH in Korea.