Thank you to everyone who came out to the Liberation Day Picnic! It was a wonderful time eating Korean food provided by Firefox & CM Chicken. The South Korean flag themed cake pops provided by @ogs_bakery were a real treat too!

We look forward to seeing everyone at next years picnic!

The $5,000 donation was the result of generous funds raised at the 10/70 Anniversary Celebration held by Korean Connection on April 20, 2023.

Thank you for celebrating Korean Connection's 10th anniversary and recognizing the service of our veterans at the 10/70 Anniversary event!

On October 1, 2022, Korean Connection was honored at Michigan State University by the Council of Korean Studies, and presented with the Special Service Award.

• Thank you Dr. Sung Lee and Roger Thornburg for this nomination.

• Thank you Peter Yoon and the Council of Korean Studies.

• Thank you board members and volunteers past and present.

Korean Connection hosts a community picnic in Millennium Park on August 15, which is The National Liberation Day of Korea. This day celebrates the United States and the Soviet Union's liberation of Korea from 35 years of Japanese rule.

In Summer 2022, Korean Connection and Roger Thornburg LLC helped bring an internationally-acclaimed Korean graffiti artist, Royyal Dog to Grand Rapids, MI to create a photorealistic mural on the Hopson Flats building located across from Founders Brewing Co.

On September 26, 2021, Mayor Bliss and City Manager Washington had a virtual signing ceremony with Gangnam-gu's Mayor Jeong Sun-kyun to discuss the planned Sister City relationship between Grand Rapids and Gangnam-gu.

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Discussions included opportunities for artistic, cultural and economic exchanges, such as Gangnam-gu's continued hosting of ArtPrize in a pop-up format, K-Pop concerts in Grand Rapids as well as start-up, business and medical partnerships.

Korean Connection chose in 2019 to formally celebrate Chuseok for the first time in thanks to West Michigan for its many years of support and participation in the organization's Korean language classes, cooking classes and more.