After last year's success of KTO K-Festival, the event was held once again in Kuala Lumpur this past weekend, with the tagline 'To Ignite the K-Imagination'. The festival, which was held in a span of three days, was filled with numerous events, with highlights such as appearances from HAHA of Running Man fame and also K-pop group MBLAQ.

The opening ceremony of the festival was held on 8^th August, starting with the performance by Royal Hanbok Team, dressed in complete attire of Joseon King and Queen and presenting the new Korea Tourism Brand Slogan Declaration 'Imagine Your Korea', followed by Korean Drum Janggo Dance performance by Ms Seuk Ye Bin. Mr Kim Ki Hong, the Director General of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism addressed the audience in his welcoming speech, followed by a congratulatory speech from H.E Cho Byungjae, the Ambassador of Republic of Korea, and Madam Chong Yoke Har, the Deputy Director General (Planning) of Tourism Malaysia.

The event went on to further introduced a man no stranger to K-Pop scenes in Malaysia, a famous tv host Baki Zainal, as the first ever Kaki Korea Ambassador. Next, the Painters Hero team took to the stage and staged an interesting and memorable performance. The final event of the opening ceremony was the ribbon cutting ceremony with all VVIPs and Kaki Korea Ambassador together with the two mascots of 2014 K-Festival on stage.

On the same day as the opening ceremony, the festival was graced by the appearance of the very cheerful HAHA or better known as Haroro to his fans, for a fansign session with 200 lucky fans. Known through the variety show Running Man, HAHA's fame in Malaysia was really apparent when the audience screamed and cheered loudly for him when he appeared on stage, bearing gifts that comprise of a few of his merchandises such as clothes and CDs to give out to lucky fans.

Always jovial and cheerful, HAHA was totally the master of fan service that evening as he went over to the crowd the greet them, shook hands and even stopped a few times for selca with few lucky fans, all with a big smile plastered on his face, which was definitely a good attitude of a Hallyu star. It was also obvious that he was truly happy to be back here in Malaysia and he hoped that the next time he comes, he would be coming with other Running Man members.

The festivities continued on the second day, 9th August, with the Korea Royal Hanbok Fashion show where audience could see for themselves the different beautiful outfits worn by royalties. Other than that, there was also a special performance from a solo singer singing Back in Time, made popular by Lyn, taken from The Moon that Embraces the Sun soundtrack.

A Kayarang performance also gained the audiences' interest, especially when the twins duo dressed cutely in hanbok, started to introduce themselves in Malay. Known as the first twin artists to master the Gayageum (a traditional Korean string instrument), the duo lead the audience to sing together with them for their first performance which is the Malaysia national anthem. Since it's Malaysia's very own national anthem, the audiences stood up to show respect. Kayarang ended their performance with Agi Jagi.

The highlight for the second day of the event was of course the appearance of MBLAQ, whom Malaysian fans had waited for five years before they finally made their way to Malaysia. Handsomely dressed in blue vest and coat,  MBLAQ, comprised of G.O, Seungho, Cheondung and Mir, appeared on stage at 7pm sharp and opened their performance with their latest comeback song, Be A Man.

During the talk session, MBLAQ, although missing a member Lee Joon due to scheduling conflict, expressed their happiness and said that they are honoured to finally be in Malaysia for the K-Festival 2014. They also expressed hope in holding a concert here in the future for their next visit.

Although it was their first time in Malaysia, MBLAQ was happy and thankful that a lot of fans came to see them. The guys even showed their ability to say few words in Malay. When G.O started to say Kita Cinta Padamu (We love you), the fans cheered loudly. When the MC taught the guys to say Terima Kasih (Thank You), Seungho confidently tried to say the word though he mispronounced it and only managed to say it properly after a few attempt. 20 minutes flew by so fast, and MBLAQ ended their appearance with their debut song, Oh Yeah! We hope to see the guys of MBLAQ in Malaysia for their concert next time!

Other events that were lined up for the festival was My K-pop Talent Quest 2014, K-Beauty Zone, K-Wedding Zone and K-Tech Zone. We applaud KTO for their effort to bring Malaysian K-pop fans closer to Korea, where they are able to ignite their K-imagination. We'll look forward for next year's event!

Korea Festival 2014 in Malaysia is presented and organized by Korea Tourism Organization. Special thanks to KTO for giving the media coverage to Kpopstarz team.

Writer: Aisyah Roslan | Photo Credit & Notes: Nik Tim / Ain Osman