Daejeon Zero O'Clock Festival to showcase city's past, present, future

Daejeon will host the Daejeon Zero O'Clock Festival with the help of international students in the city to promote the event to a global audience. The festival will be held between Friday and August 17. The city will be closing the one-kilometer ...

International students who helped promote the Daejeon Zero O'Clock Festival pose for a photo in June. [DAEJEON METROPOLITAN CITY]

The Daejeon Zero O'Clock Festival will kick off on Friday with the help of international students in the city who have been helping promote the event to a global audience.

The festival will be held between Friday and August 17. The city will be closing the one-kilometer (0.62-mile) road from Daejeon Station to the former South Chungcheong Provincial Office.

The city appointed 60 international students from 24 countries in Daejeon as student supporters, who have been working with the city to promote the event since May.

The students' countries of origin include China, Japan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Nigeria.

The students helped translate promotional materials into other languages and create content for social media.

At the festival, they will be offering language support for foreigners who have difficulty communicating in Korean.

"In order to make Daejeon Zero O'Clock Festival a global festival, we will be inviting citizens and mayors of sister cities and are planning to invite international media and ambassadors," Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo said. "Rather than being just a festival where visitors can enjoy food and events, we aim to create a festival that will revive the local economy by attracting a large number of tourists."

The festival will be divided into three sections, each representing Daejeon's past, present and future.

The Newtro Daejeon Blues section will provide a glimpse of the city's past, recreating 1950s buildings and streets. Visitors will be able to look around retro music cafes, tailor shops and a replica of what the famous Sungsimdang Bakery looked like in the past.

K-pop performances will be the main event for the D-Culture of Korea section, which represents the city's present. Performances will be held every day during the festival, with artists such as Apink and fromis_9 performing on Saturday and Ailee on Monday.

Visitors will be able to view exhibits of technologies developed in Daejeon, such as semiconductors and space technologies in the Future City of Daejeon section, representing the city's future.

To welcome tourists coming outside of Daejeon, the city will be offering discounts at tourist attractions such as O-World, Daejeon Expo Aquarium and Daejeon Asin Theater.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]