The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Wednesday (Mar. 3) that a new Korean cultural center will open in Kazakhstan. The opening ceremony is to take place in late evening the following day, participated in by Korean ambassador to Kazakhstan Lee Byung-hwa, Kazakhstan's Minister of Culture and Information Mukhtar A. Kul-Muhammed, , chairman of the ministry's Culture Committee Ilias Kozybayev and some 200 other officials and experts in the field of culture and art.

The building to be used for Korea's culture center (918 square meters) established in the capital city of Astana is complete with an IT multimedia room, Hallyu (Korea cultural content) promotion room, library, lecture room and other halls for multiple functions.

The multimedia room is especially equipped with the latest LED-TV, home theater, digital folding screen, notebook and multimedia video facilities. Visitors can enjoy recent Korean dramas on channels like KBS World and Arirang TV and access the website through WiBro, Korea's own wireless Internet system.

The digital folding screen will offer a full picture of the four beautiful seasons of Korea through both photos and moving images, accompanied by sounds of gayageum, the Korean traditional 12-string zither. All in all, the newest culture center looks forward to introducing Korea's advanced technology to the locals and further enhancing the image of Korea.

A Korea Culture Festival is taking place from Mar. 2 to 7, one in Astana and the other in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty, both to mark the opening of the center.