Gyeonggi Province held Ontong Concert at Gyeonggi Arts Center on July 10. 

◇ Governor Kim is expressing his opinion about communications at Gyeonggi Ontong Concert. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon 

◇ Gyeonggi Province held Gyeonggi Ontong Concert in the afternoon of July 10 to communicate with provincial residents. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon 

Gyeonggi Province pledged to warmheartedly communicate with Gyeonggi residents by tearing down a wall between generations.

Gyeonggi Province held Gyeonggi Ontong Concert at Aneukhan Small Theater (meaning, cozy small theater) of Gyeonggi Arts Center at 4:30 p.m. on July 10. 

“Ontong”, which implies the meanings of online communication, warm communication, and every communication, is a campaign launched by Gyeonggi Province, designed to ‘make an effort for each other to change cold and incommunicative society into warm and well-communicating society’.

Ontong Concert was designed under the theme of “Communications in Life” so that Gyeonggi residents can warmly communicate in everyday life without posting thoughtless or critical comments on social networking sites. 

At the concert, about 400 guests participated in including Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo, Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Chairman Yoon Hwa-seob, Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency Commissioner Lee Man-hyee, Actress Park Hae-mi, Chairman of Gyeonggi Provincial University Student Leaders Kim Hoo-gyeom, Korea Students’ Council (student leaders of nationwide high schools) Representative Hwang Bo-mi, Ggoomnamu Reporters (child reporters) Representative Yoo Chae-rim, parents, students, and other persons concerned. 

To begin with, Comedian Park Joon-hyung, who hosted the event, attracted the audience wittily saying, “Noise between floors and malicious messages on the Internet are also conflicts caused by absence of communication. Ontong, referring to every, online, and warm communication, means listening much and caring for others. Isn’t this a cool brand name ?”

Soon, there were a video clip titled Our Hero, Ontong and a cultural performance titled “Gentle Cop, Dance Performance” by PR Group of Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency on the stage, and children at the concert exclaimed at them. 

◇ Governor Kim Moon-soo, Chairman Yoon Hwa-seob, Commissioner Lee Man-hyee, and others are watching the performance for celebrating the event. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon 

At the main stage of the event, ‘Communication Sympathy Talk’, candid free speeches continued over importance of and efforts for communications with the stories of their personal experiences. Seven speakers representing different generations from Governor Kim Moon-soo to Ggoomnamu Reporter Yoo Chae-rim came on the stage. 

Governor Kim Moon-soo talked about communications, “I often experiences difficulties in communication. Especially, I usually have difficulty in communicating with Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly because their job is to serve as a check on me and criticize. However, a lot of problems were solved as I followed their decisions,” and added, “My wife usually says to me that I am a slow-witted man. So, I try to watch comedy programs for better communication with young people and better understanding them. This have helped me to improve communication skills with young people.”

He also commented, “To communicate well, we should meet various people and listen to them first. We feel like speaking, but the more we speak, the more difficulties we would experience. Listening is certainly the best way to communicate,” and added, “Gyeonggi Province is 17 times larger than Seoul, so I have to visit more districts. I keep visiting the marketplaces in the rural areas, Public Service Bus, Public Service Metro, and Public Service Center in Suwon Station and Uijeongbu Station to communicate with Gyeonggi residents.”

Chairman Yoon Hwa-seob said, “When a lawmaker takes control of the conversation, he will have many enemies. For communication, it is desirable for lawmakers to listen rather than speak.” He related speaking with communication, saying “You should not speak what you won’t speak behind one’s back in front of him. When you raise your voice, you can’t make others understood.”

Commissioner Lee Man-hyee expressed his opinions, “We usually have difficulty in communicating with teenagers due to a large age gap. I will keep trying to communicate well with all generations.” He shared his experiences by saying, “It is easy to hear and announce news via social networking services such as Facebook, but false information can be easily spread, too. It is the best  way to visit regional police stations offline to meet and hear from local residents in person.”

Park Hae-mi commented, “When I performed in a gospel musical in the past, we trained school dropouts to perform on the stage. Also, we convinced them to prepare for school qualification examination and helped them have a dream.” She told about her unique plans for communication, “I will communicate via musicals by performing musicals at schools within Gyeonggi Province in the future.”

Student President of Yongin University Kim Hoo-gyeom said, “Despite vacation period, we are preparing for Hanmaeum Festival for  students attending at colleges in Gyeonggi Province including festival, sports festival, and booths for job fair. Through this event, we will create an opportunity to communicate with other universities in general.” When he asked for help to Gyeonggi Province, Governor Kim answered that he would give positive consideration to it. 

◇ Governor Kim Moon-soo is reading Joint Declaration for Warm Communication. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon 

◇ Governor Kim Moon-soo and representatives are showing the written joint declaration. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon 

Meanwhile, Cha-Ha-Mal Postcard event was also held in connection with Cha-Ha-Mal (meaning “I have always wanted to say that” in Korean) event held on the Facebook page of Gyeonggi Province from June 26 to July 4. At the event, three people who posted touching stories on the Facebook and five people who wrote a postcard on the spot were chosen and presented with food gift certificates. 

At the end of the talk concert, people frankly talked about what they have always wanted to say. Governor Kim confessed his love to his wife, Seol Nan-young, saying “Yesterday, my wife went to Gangwon Province with her friends. While I slept alone, I felt I cannot sleep without you.” His confession made the audience laugh. 

Through Ontong Concert with people from all walks of life attending, Gyeonggi Province gave an opportunity to form a social consensus about the importance and the value of communication and building a well-communicating society. To this end, it adopted Joint Declaration for Warm Communication in which the public participate all together including multicultural families, online communication channels of Gyeonggi Province.

The declaration contains five main contents, which are creation of SNS Clean Zone, active support for educational programs and projects for communications and sympathy, efforts for communication with the information poor, continuous advancement of campaigns for communications and sympathy, and full administrative support for joint projects. Participating bodies and student leaders pledged a continuous cooperation according to the joint declaration.

After the declaration, Governor Kim said, “Ontong Concert was held so that students of elementary, middle, high schools, and universities, policemen, Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly, and others can exchange opinions warmheartedly,” and added, “What public officials need most for communication is to listen to residents’ voices with a humble heart. That’s all about communication. Ontong Concert is going to be held all around the province with various projects in order to listen to their voices again and again.” 

Then, he talked about the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook and Twitter, “As I can describe my thoughts and various information immediately whenever I want, I think that is a warm communication. However, I feel that’s not enough because I tend to hold my tongue in order to avoid being blamed.”

Meanwhile, after the joint declaration ceremony, Park Hae-mi sang ”We Are the Champion” as a special celebration performance and well received by the audience. She tried to communicate with the audience by coming down the stage and holding their hands.  

An official at New Media Division, Kim Gyu-sik said, “To cope with various social issues caused by lack of communication, we need to begin with small efforts such as understanding, consideration, conversation and listening. Through Ontong Campaign that Gyeonggi Province just starts, I hope we build and spread a culture of good communication.”  

◇ Park Hae-mi, a musical actress, is coming down the stage and shaking hands with the audience while singing. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon 

◇ High school girls participating in Gyeonggi Ontong Concert have a commemorative photo with the representatives taken. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon 

ⓒGyeonggi G-News | Park Gwan-sik malbut@kg21.net 

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201307111403357055C048&s_code=C049