The 2021 Dream Program, which offers adolescents from countries where pursuing winter sports is difficult with the opportunity to experience such sports and Korean culture, kicked off on April 1.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on the same day that the program has 122 participants from 28 countries.
Because of COVID-19, this year's program invited students from Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa studying in Korea rather than recruit directly from the three regions.
The preliminary noncontact program will be held until May 23 and includes online courses in Korea-related fields including K-pop dance and songs and taekwondo. In addition to winter sports, enhanced Hallyu culture programs will be offered to meet the demands of international students in Korea.
From May 24-30, other events are scheduled such as a winter sports experience in Pyeongchang-gun County, the host venue of the 2018 Winter Olympics, and Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, Hallyu culture courses, field trips to the province and Olympic facilities, and contests.
The Dream Program debuted in 2004 to expand the base for winter sports through the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics. The ministry and the Gangwon-do government sponsor the program and the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation hosts it.
Over the past 16 years, 2,147 people from 85 countries have participated in the program and 93 of them have gone on to compete in the Winter Olympics and other international competitions.
More details about the program are on its official website (www.dreamprogram.co.kr), and its preliminary online content is posted on Korea.net (www.korea.net) and the foundation's official YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/channel/UCBZB637jdylnz8me6K0JJig).
