The Corea Image Communication Institute held a glitzy ceremony on Thursday to present its annual awards to the groups and individuals who have done an exceptional job of promoting Korea to the world. <br />Won Jung-hwan reports.<br /> <br />The CICI is dedicated to promoting Korean culture around the world, and every year the organization selects individuals or groups that contribute to such efforts.<br />This year's ceremony was held in Seoul on Thursday to commemorate three winners who have worked to spread a positive image of Korea both locally and abroad. <br /><br />The first award went to British YouTubers Josh and Ollie, who are seen as a key bridge to Korean culture for foreigners. <br />Korean Englishman, an extremely popular YouTube channel that shows British people experiencing Korean culture and lifestyle, has attracted over three million YouTube subscribers. <br />While they have been travelling between Korea and the U.K. to produce a variety of interesting Korean culture videos,… the duo are planning something even bigger this year. <br /> <br />"One of the things that we are going to do in Korean Englishman little bit more, I think it is safe for me to say, is we just filmed a video recently with a Korean celebrity where he introduce something that he likes about Korean culture to us, little bit of drinking culture, little bit of something different."<br /><br />Another award went to South Korean born ballet dancer Park Sae-eun, who recently won best female dancer at the ( ) Benois de la Danse, known as the Oscars of the dance awards. <br />Park, who performs at the Paris Opera Ballet of France, said she's proud knowing she has contributed to paving the road for the next generation of Korean ballet dancers. <br /> <br />"Two young Korean dancers joined me in Paris recently. I think my crew is confident about their future as they have watched my development since I was young."<br /><br />But nonetheless, spreading Korean culture to the world wouldn't be possible without the last winner, the Korean language. <br />Korean is now a language that millions of people want to learn and it will act as a stepping stone in promoting Korea around the world in the years to come. <br />Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News. <br />
