SEOUL, 16 June 2016 - Nearly 30 Korean children and their mothers gathered recently at the Ko-rea Foundation (KF) seminar room located next to Seoul's iconic Cheonggyecheon stream to lis-ten to a live reading in English and Korean of a Filipino folk tale popularized by Philippine national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the Embassy of the Philippines reported to the Department.

"The Monkey and the Turtle," a children's book written and illustrated by Rizal, was read to the children by First Secretary and Consul General Roderico C. Atienza and professional story teller Ji Won-sook, on 26 May 2016 as part of the program "Book Reading for Children by Ambassadors in Korea," a highlight of the KF Gallery's second event commemorating its 25th anniversary.

Rizal's sketches and English telling of the tale was published in Trubner's Oriental Series in London in July 1889 as part of "Two Eastern Fables" ? the other, a Japanese folktale about a monkey and a crab. He had earlier made the sketches in the notebook of Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera, future wife of national artist Juan Luna, on a visit to Paris in 1885.

Considered to be the formal beginning of Philippine children's literature, this historic publication is commemorated as National Children's Book Day (NCBD) sometime every third week of July by the Philippine Board on Books for Young People.

"I was so impressed how the children were attentive all throughout the reading session and even asked questions," KF Global Center senior program officer Yoon Hyo-jin, adding that Koreans in general were familiar with the Philippines, either having visited it as tourists themselves or having acquaintances or even relatives who have lived or studied there.

The commemorative event is an exhibition entitled "Encounter the World through Children's Books," which featured between 27 April and 8 June 2016 at the KF Gallery 400 children books in 28 languages, with Korean translations, contributed by 44 embassies and cultural centers in Seoul.

The book-reading was a special feature where ambassadors, their spouses or deputies from 26 countries each read a book from their country to Korean children for about 30 minutes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday during the exhibition period.

For the reading, Consul General Atienza used the large version rendered in full color from the original Rizal sketches by Auri Asuncion Yambao and Grace Asuncion and published by Tahanan Books in 2003. He prefaced it with an introduction about Rizal and the folk tale, translated by Embassy interpreter Matilda Kim Eun-joo, as well as with a 6-minute video about the Philippines.

Founded in 1992 for international exchange and public diplomacy initiatives, the Korea Foundation organized the event as part of its efforts to cultivate a global outlook among Korean children. Books on display included "The Little Prince" from France, "I Want My Hat Back" from Canada, "When Findus Was Little and Disappeared" from Sweden and "Aesop's Fables" from Greece.

Apart from "The Monkey and the Turtle", the exhibition featured eight Filipino children's books, including "Ibong Adarna" and a book illustration of Philippine folk tale "Bahay Kubo," which were donated by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through the Department of Foreign Affairs.