Two Korean TV series to be shown in Myanmar

Two popular Korean television series will be shown on Myanmar's state-run channel starting next month, cultural authorities said Wednesday.

"A Thousand Days' Promise" and "Cinderella's Sister" will be shown on Myanmar's MRTV, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and its affiliate Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange said. This is their first joint project to provide foreign channels with selected Korean TV content free of charge. 

It remains unknown exactly when the two series will air.

The authorities have pushed for the project to further spread the global Korean pop culture boom, known as "hallyu" in Korean, and increase cultural exchanges with foreign countries.

"Myanmar is one of the countries where demand for Korean pop culture is high, with more than 10 Korean TV programs being shown per day," a ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

He said this accounts for more than 90 percent of TV series being shown in the country.

"We thought it is necessary to hold a mutually beneficial program like this in order to keep hallyu afloat amid heated competition from China, India and Japan," the source said.

The ministry said it is currently working on similar free-distribution contracts with Fiji, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana.

Starring Kim Rae-won and Soo Ae, "A Thousand Days' Promise" is a 2011 melodrama about a woman who is losing her memory and a loving man who stands by her side.

A 2010 series starring Moon Geun-young and Chun Jung-myung, "Cinderella's Sister" follows the contentious relationship between two stepsisters as their lives and loves intertwine. (Yonhap)