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| ▲ This file photo shows Kim Ha-seong, LUNA, and Jang Hyuk taking a photo at the Citi Field in New York. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This file photo shows Kim Ha-seong shaking hands with Jang Hyuk at the Citi Field in New York. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This file photo shows Kim Ha-seong signing on a baseball to Korean fans in New York at the Citi Field in New York. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This file photo shows officials of New York participating in '2022 Korean Night.' (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This file photo shows the children’s choir of a Korean school in New Jersey singing the National Anthem of the United States ahead of the game. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This file photo shows Jang Hyuk throwing a ball ahead of the game. (Yonhap) |
NEW YORK, July 23 (Yonhap) -- On the evening of the 22nd (local time), a festival for Koreans was held at Citi Field, the home of New York Mets in the U.S. Major League Baseball.
At the ‘2022 Korean Night at Citi Field’ event hosted by Mets, Korean major leaguers, Korean wave stars, Korean-American local politicians and key figures of Korean community gathered.
The Mets, whose home is located at Flushing, Queens in New York, where Korean markets are concentrated, used to hold ‘Korean Night’ event when Korean players like Ryu Hyun-jin come to U.S. for away game. This year, they prepared a big festival in time for home game against Kim Ha-seong’s San Diego Padres.
After practicing batting before the game, Kim Ha-seong took a photo with Jang Hyuk, who was selected as a pitcher, and LUNA, a musical actress from k-pop girl group f(x), who was in charge of the home plate award.
During the interview with Yonhap News reporter, Kim Ha-seong commented that “It might have been better if this place was my home ground, but it’s such an honor to meet famous people,” adding, “I feel thankful to all the fans cheering for the game both through TV and the stadium. I will try harder to show good performance to respond to the love of fans.”
When asked about the secret of improvement in performance in the second year at big leagues, Kim mentioned, “I prepared hard during off-season and I’m still practicing desperately,” adding, “I’m not good enough yet. It is my goal to participate in as many games as possible without being damaged.”
Before the game, K-pop songs fill the stadium of the Citi Field, starting with BTS’s ‘Dynamite,’ and hundreds of Koreans following Samulnori troupes waved Korean flags and American flags all together, promoting Korean culture to local fans.
When the children’s choir of a Korean school in New Jersey, beautifully dressed in Hanbok, sang the National Anthem of the United States, the audiences sent bigger shouts and round of applause to them for three times, even more cheerfully than during the game.
Jeong Byeong-hwa, a consul general of New York, who participated in the event on this day, said, “The event is meaningful in that it promotes Korea to American fans.”
Following the pitch of Linda Lee and Julie Won, the first Korean-American city councilors in New York, a pro wrestler Bianca Belair threw the second pitch and Jang Hyuk threw the last, marking the start of the game.
Although Kim Ha-seong was excluded from the starting line-up, he stepped the ground as a pinch runner in the top of the eighth inning.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Kim Jimin.)
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