Indonesian tribe adopting Hangeul to visit S. Korea

SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- Leaders of Indonesia's Cia-Cia tribe, who adopted
Korea's "Hangeul" alphabet to transcribe their language earlier this year, will
arrive in South Korea on Dec. 21 hoping to further extend cultural exchanges, the
city of Seoul said Thursday.
Amirul Tamim, mayor of the city of Bau-Bau, will visit Seoul from Dec. 21-26
along with the chief of the tribe, the headmaster of a tribal high school and
local students, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
The delegation will meet with Oh Se-hoon, Seoul mayor, on Dec. 22 to sign a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) on broadening cultural exchanges between the
two cities. Under the MOU, Seoul will invite traditional performers from Bau-Bau
and run an educational program for the Indonesian city's civil servants.
The Cia-Cia tribe, with a population of about 60,000, is concentrated in Bau-Bau,
the main city on Indonesia's Buton island. It decided to adopt Hangeul as its own
alphabet in August.
"The Cia-Cia's decision to adopt Hangeul as their writing system will no doubt
influence other minority tribes without their own alphabet," a Seoul city
official said. "We will seize this opportunity and cooperate with the central
government to continue to export Hangeul."
The Cia-Cia delegation is also set to sign an MOU on Dec. 22 with the
Hunminjeongeum Research Institute, the Korean language society that successfully
exported Hangeul to the Cia-Cia, to build a Korea Center in Bau-Bau. The center
will play a key role in teaching Hangeul to the local people.
For the remainder of their stay, the Cia-Cia delegates will tour Seoul and visit
the Hangeul exhibition hall at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Plaza, a landmark park in
downtown.
yerankim@yna.co.kr
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