FILIPINO MARRIAGE MIGRANTS JOIN SEOUL POLICE'S NEW YEAR FESTIVAL

"I would like to welcome everyone gathered here for this event, which we organized as a consolation for the families who cannot go back to their home countries at this important holiday," said SNPA Chief Superintendent General Lee Sang-won in remarks at the Multicultural Festival for the Lunar New Year. "I want to emphasize that we are one family. Please enjoy yourselves."

Philippine Ambassador Raul S. Hernandez, who could not be present, delivered a pre-taped three-minute video message for the audience. "On behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Seoul, I would like to extend my warmest greetings for Seollal to the people of the Republic of Korea and of different nationalities, including my fellow Filipinos living here."

"Similar to how we celebrate our New Year in the Philippines, I hope Seollal will become a fresh start of something bright and hopeful for all of us this year," he said, leading messages from other guests like R&B diva Kim In-Soon, better known as Insooni, who was born to an African-American father and a Korean mother, and Comedy Idols, a popular trio from KBS TV's Gag Concert.

Filipino marriage migrants and their children comprised the third biggest group with 110 attendees, with women from China and Vietnam taking up the front.

Before the three-hour program, Ch. Sup. Gen. Lee met with the ambassadors of seven countries with large numbers of immigrant women married to Koreans living in Seoul, together with Philippine-born National Assembly Rep. Jasmine Lee, for his first meeting since becoming SMPA commissioner in December 2015.

"We will spare no efforts to help and protect your nationals," SMPA Commissioner Lee told the ambassadors of Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam during a call at his office before the Multicultural Festival for the Lunar New Year. The Philippines was represented by the Embassy's First Secretary and Consul General Roderico C. Atienza. SMPA Commissioner Lee stressed how Seoul police are ready to assist newly arrived nationals get settled in Korea.

Indonesian Ambassador John Aristianto Prasetio praised SMPA Commissioner Lee for keeping Seoul safe. Despite accounting for some 20 percent of Korea's population of 50 million, the capital city has the lowest crime rate in all of Korea.

The program featured performances by a Vietnamese traditional dance group, Charming Choir, an award-winning multicultural chorus with children from Argentina, Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand, and by Seoul police officers, including Choi Siwon of popular K-Pop group Super Junior, who is currently doing his military service with SMPA.

SMPA is one of 16 provincial sub-divisions of Korea's National Police Agency and currently polices over 10 million inhabitants.

There are currently 55,000 Filipinos living in Korea, 11,000 of whom are marriage immigrants.