{"id":4178,"date":"2026-10-01T11:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T11:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=4178"},"modified":"2026-10-01T11:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T11:42:04","slug":"sabah-takes-centre-stage-in-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=4178","title":{"rendered":"Sabah takes centre stage in South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ANDONG, South Korea: 26 September 2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sabah took centre stage in South Korea as Malaysia takes Guest Country status at the Andong International Maskdance Festival 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in its 30th year, the 11-day festival brings together 22 countries. Organisers expect more than 1.6 million visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said the platform puts Sabah directly before an international audience and opens new avenues for tourism, cultural and people-to-people exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Being Guest Country gives us a rare opportunity to bring Sabah’s culture and tourism directly to Korean and international visitors,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With 22 countries and 1.6 million visitors, this is how we increase Sabah’s visibility and introduce our destination to a much wider market.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Culture connects people beyond language and borders. We are here not just to showcase Sabah, but to build lasting relationships and deeper cooperation with Andong.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remarks were delivered by the ministry’s permanent secretary II, Dr Cleopatra @ Clare Asing, on Malaysia Guest Country Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ceremony was attended by Andong mayor Kwon Ki Chang, representatives of Andong City Council and the Korean Foundation for Cultures and Ethics, and international guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the festival, Sabah is presenting its ethnic diversity through cultural performances, traditional crafts and a dedicated pavilion promoting nature-based and cultural tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a chance for Korean and international visitors to experience Sabah \u2014 our culture, traditions, destinations and the warmth of our people,” Jafry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We hope this lays the foundation for stronger cultural and tourism exchange and brings our communities closer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He thanked Andong City and the foundation for the platform and said Sabah looks forward to deeper engagement with Andong and the Korean market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANDONG, South Korea: 26 September 2026 Sabah took centre stage in South Korea as Malaysia takes Guest Country status at the Andong International Maskdance Festival 2026. Now in its 30th year, the 11-day festival brings together 22 countries. Organisers expect more than 1.6 million visitors. Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG-20260927-WA0012.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4180,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178\/revisions\/4180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}