(Fort Lee, NJ) – Korea week is a special 10 day promotion that will run on CNN from July 26 – August 4, 2003.

The Korea National Tourism Organization and the Korea Ministry of Culture and Tourism signed a sponsorship contract on June 5 with CNN at a cost of $250,000. This fee includes the CNN TV coverage consisting of 254 advertisements shown during President Roh’s visit to the US. Additional ads will run from July 22 – August 1. What’s more is the CNN website will feature a banner link to the KNTO website, www.tour2korea.com.

This is a worldwide promotion sponsored by the Korea National Tourism Organization and the Korea Ministry of Culture and Tourism. There are 2 programs that will feature Korea coverage during the 10 days.

Biz Asia and Talk Asia will both have studios set up in Korea. The focus will be on the Korean economy, culture, tourism strategy, visitor entertainment industry, sports such as golf, baseball, soccer, Taekwondo, and the sports industry rapid development, movies, and the Korean IT infrastructure. These areas will be explored rather than focusing on the N. Korea nuclear crises and national security issues which have ironed themselves out as of late.

The “Biz Asia” segment features, among other topics, ‘the miracle of the Han River,’ which spanned economic development in Korea. The “Biz Asia” program will be shown over 40 times in 10 days. “Talk Asia” features host, Lorraine Hahn, who has interviewed movie stars, and tourism leaders for her segments. “Talk Asia” runs on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in North American Asian regions a total of 39 times.

Through the promotion, CNN will reveal that Korea is a diverse, fun and dynamic country, and Korea Week on CNN is out to prove just that. With this special week, people will learn and understand more about Korea. It will also encourage audiences to visit the country.

KNTO, and indeed, the entire Korean government feels that now is an important time for promoting Korea worldwide in order to increase public awareness of the country. The awareness is already increasing due to recent coverage such as President Roh’s appearance in a KNTO produced television commercial promoting Korea tourism that ran on CNN May 8-19. In addition, the New York Times feature on Korea that ran on May 27, 2003 stated that now is the best time to go to Korea.

For more information, please call 1-800-TOUR-KOR(EA)