Culture, arts and fashion on show at this year's Korean Day

Dancers at Korean Day festival at the North Shore Events Centre. Photo / Supplied

Auckland's Korean community is hoping to entice those who do not know about their culture to one of the biggest days on their calendar.

The 2017 Korean Day is set to put the sights, tastes and sounds of the Asian nation in the limelight; with traditional foods, fashion, arts, crafts and performances on show at the North Shore Events Centre tomorrow.

Hosted by the Korean Society of Auckland, there will be a myriad of colourful performances from groups throughout the community, including puppet, fan and drum dances.

Members of the NZ Dance Company will perform a special excerpt from Sigan - Time - taken from the triple bill Kiss The Sky, opening at the Bruce Mason Centre in late June.

The piece has been put together by well-known Korean choreographer and composer Kim Jae Duk, who recently spent time here to carry out the commissioned work.

The contemporary work is based on traditional Korean themes of meditation and attack and features traditional musical elements.

One of the dancers, Carl Tolentino, said it was a privilege to learn about Kim's culture and now put on a performance based on it.

Event organiser Michael Son said the day was about highlighting the Korean culture and sharing it with New Zealanders.

It was also about bringing together their own Korean and wider Asian communities - particularly for second and third-generation Korean Kiwis who were starting to rediscover their roots.

Photo / Supplied

"We have 40,000 Korean people in New Zealand. In Auckland, we have more than 20,000 Koreans.

"We have to make just one day to come together and share the culture with other New Zealand people and other Asian peoples."

Son said many young Koreans living in New Zealand were now bilingual. But some were only now enjoying learning about their ancestral connections to Korea.

"They have culture shock because they have Korean thinking and also Kiwi thinking.

"Sometimes they don't understand the Korean culture so we have to teach them."

More than 10,000 people are expected to turn out to the annual event, which this year celebrates 21 years of sisterhood between Auckland and Busan city, in South Korea.

KOREAN DAY 2017:

When: Tomorrow, Sat Apr 1, 10am to 5pm
Where: North Shore Events Centre, Auck
What: See and experience Korean art, performance, crafts, foods and fashion
Cost: Free for all ages