Dear guests,

To travel is a good way to explore the world. It broadens your views. Recently I was in South-Africa, where we visited the townships. To see the life conditions of these people leaves a trace in your mind. Having come back home, we ask ourselves questions, about how these people colour their world and also about the demanding rules and laws that rule our lives in the west.

Alas, it is not possible and also too expensive to explore the whole world. Therefore we are lucky if the world comes to visit us. Today this is the case. The "Culturele Centrale" Association regularly organises activities and let people of Zwevegem become acquainted with all aspects of culture.

The "North-South" Municipal Council of Zwevegem supports the agricultural project in Ontchon. The peasants are supported in there courageous struggle for the rice harvest, though fields may be lower than the sea level, and typhoons and torrents have devastating consequences. The support has the form of educational materials for the schools and instruction of peasants, and this year there was also a donation of fuel for the tractors. Thanks to this support and the good relationship of Jef Bossuyt with the friendship association "Korea is One" this exhibition can be seen in Zwevegem. It is an important exhibition, for from September 15th to 20th it was exhibited in the building of the European Parliament. The paintings of the Korea Paekho Fine Arts and Architectural Decorations from North Korea are made by six artists. The works of Paekho can be seen all over the world, for instance in Egypt, Italy, Kuwait, Thailand, the Netherlands, Russia and so on.

From October 23th these paintings can be admired in our beautiful library on a prominent place in the entry hall and the lecture hall. Today the most impressive paintings were placed here in the conference hall. "De Wieke", and will remain until the end of the exhibition on October 31th.

The masterpiece of the exhibition is Mr. Pak Chang Sop’s “Tiger on Mt. Paektu”. Mt. Paektu is a secret ancestral mountain where the Korean people came into being and have lived 5.000 years as well as telling the history of the great leader Kim Il Sung, who had waged the armed struggle to liberate his fatherland from the Japanese imperialists.

This splendid painting represents artistically the ideological emotion of the dignified and independent Korean people through the spirit of a tiger, looking down at Lake Chon on a mossy rock of Mt. Paektu with its forefoot stretched out powerfully.

This evening we will be able to see the photographs in a slide show from Frank Mulleman. He is a famous photographer and chairman of the "Achturencultuur" Cultural Association of Kortrijk, who is a colleague of the Zwevegem "Culturele Centrale". He visited both North and South Korea this year, overcame the high wall between the two sides of the country, and will show you the live in North Korea, and how it differs from live in South Korea.

Zwevegem has a rich cultural life, and being Municipal Cultural Governor of Zwevegem I have the privilege to witness that every day. Many associations are working actively for the cultural life in Zwevegem. I thank the "Culturele Centrale" for the organisation of this exhibition, which I declare now officially opened.

Thank you,

Ann Cosaert Municipal Cultural Governor of Zwevegem October 29th, 2008