The Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI, chaired by Choi Jung-hwa) said on the 21st it held the 17th Culture Communication Forum CCF 2026 at the residence of the Italian ambassador to Korea in Yongsan District, Seoul.
About 50 figures from politics, business, diplomacy, and culture attended the forum, including Ryu Jin, chairman of POONGSAN Group and chairman of The Federation of Korean Industries; Emilia Gatto, Italian ambassador to Korea; Bruno Jans, Belgian ambassador; Wong Kai Jun, Singaporean ambassador; Paul Duclos, Peruvian ambassador; Jacques Flies, Luxembourgish ambassador; Kim Jung-soo, chairman of Samyang Foods; Seo Jeong-ho, chairman of Ambassador Hotel Group; and Lim Hyung-joo, chairman of the Yongsan Cultural Foundation.
The highlight of the day was the Hidden Talent Challenge, where attendees took the stage to show off their hidden talents. Actor Park Joong-hoon drew on years of experience as a radio DJ to belt out Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love."
Hong Tae-seon, CEO of YKH (architect), presented a high-level piano performance of Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 1, and Fabio, a Spanish broadcaster serving as a hanbok ambassador, sang Lee Sun-hee's "Fate."
Host Emilia Gatto, the Italian ambassador to Korea, also performed the classic "Il Mondo" by Jimmy Fontana with embassy staff.
At the ensuing event, the final round of a card news contest, held over two months starting in March, took place under the theme "The future of K-culture: What is the competitiveness of K-content?" With eight entries in the final, attendees cast on-site mobile votes to decide the grand prize and excellence award.
In the Korean traditional and modern culture future outlook category, the grand prize went to "In 2075, there are still things we cannot ferment," by Jeong Jun-tae, CEO of Majel Define (40).
With witty future visions such as a kimchi-jjigae (Kimchi stew) eatery on the moon and teaching an AI grandchild how to make kimchi for winter, it earned top scores by showing that even as technology advances, the warmth of human "han" and "jeong" cannot be replaced.
The excellence award went to "K-Bojagi OS" by Park Min-gyu, deputy general manager (40) at GS Engineering & Construction, which reinterpreted Korea's bojagi as a circular life system.
In the AI era, the competitiveness unique to K-content category, the joint team of Han Sun-jung, CEO of Moon Jar Studio (45), and Park Se-jun, technical director at TBS (47), won the grand prize and the excellence award.
Their entry that won the grand prize, "The sense of language AI cannot imitate: nuances of Korean," argued that uniquely Korean sentiments that defy translation—such as "jeong," "nunchi," "han," and "heung"—are the core competitiveness of K-content, resonating with the audience.
Their other work, which received a joint excellence award, "K-content, K-resonance: crowd singing and light sticks," earned praise for presenting a culture of collective resonance that views fans as co-creators as an alternative for the AI era.