Kuroda Fukumi, a Japanese actress who has promoted the Korean Wave, or hallyu, and also authored a guidebook for tourists in Korea, has been designated a tourism ambassador of Gyeonggi Province.

Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Moon-soo named her a goodwill envoy and gave her a plaque of appointment in the provincial office on Monday. Officials expect Kuroda to be of great help in attracting Japanese tourists, making promotional materials and developing tourism products.

Her term is two years until April 2015.

The 57-year-old Tokyo native with much knowledge about Korea has appeared on large and small screens.

Kuroda is regarded as the first generation of hallyu promoters who spread Korean pop culture in Japan in the early 1980s.

She wrote books on Korean tourism and Koreans in 1994 and 2003, respectively. More recently, she worked as a goodwill ambassador for Expo 2012 in Yeosu.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)