Eight officials representing China’s seven major portal sites, including SOHU, youku and 163.com, are arriving in Korea on Friday for their five-day tour to experience diverse aspects of Korean culture and economy.

The Korean Culture and Information Service organized the event, and its director Seo Kang-soo said the program aims to promote what Korea has achieved both culturally and economically to the arriving officials, as their web portals are extremely influential among the Chinese public. Next year also marks the 20th anniversary of the South Korean-Chinese relations, he said. 

The arriving Chinese figures include Xue Li Sheng of China Internet Information Center, a web portal authorized by the Chinese government; Cui Ying and Li Peng from 163.com, China’s major news portal; Wei Cheng from SOHU, a prominent search engine company; and a representative from youku, a video hosting service site in China.

The tour is an extension of Korean Culture Ministry’s project from last year, which invited five officials from four Chinese portal sites ― China Internet Information Center, qq.com, the Xinhua News Agency and 163.com ― in December.

Last year’s program was prepared for the Chinese figures to familiarize themselves with Korea’s diverse media outlets including Chosun Ilbo and leading portal site Naver. The Culture Ministry said the upcoming tour offers a series of culture- and sports-related programs on top of what was presented last year.

Throughout the tour, the eight officials will visit Bukchon Hanok Village; attend the official ceremony of IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011; watch a live episode of SBS K-pop music show “The Music Trend”; try various Samsung electronic devices at Samsung d’light; and meet with representatives of KakaoTalk, Korea’s free and hugely popular cross-platform mobile messaging application for smart phones.

They will also join Nam Kyung-pil, chairman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee of Korea, to discuss the future of Korea-China relations establishing stronger cultural and economic ties between the two countries.

The figures will leave Korea for China on Aug. 30.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)