From 1607, the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate, until 1811, Korea dispatched 12 goodwill missions to Japan. The last delegation turned home from Tsushima Island off Busan, with its mission to Tokyo aborted.

A group from Busan calling itself the Chosun Goodwill Mission Culture Promotion Committee said this week it had teamed up with a Japanese group to hold a "Goodwill and Friendship Festival" in Tokyo in July. The festival will form part of celebrations of the Korea-Japan Friendship Year marking 40 years since the normaliztion of ties.

A graphic depicting a Chosun Dynasty goodwill mission to Japan. The missions were a regular fixture from 1607 to 1811./Courtesy of Doosan World Encyclopedia EnCyber

"The event reenacting the procession of a Chosun Dynasty goodwill delegation could well grow into a culture brand riding the Korean current" of popularity in Japan, said the committee's chairman, who gave his name as Kang.

The procession will cover a two-kilometer stretch of Okubo Street, in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on July 20. The area was chosen because it houses Shin-Okubo Station where Korean student Lee Soo-hyun died while saving a Japanese. A memorial service for Lee will also be held. The event will be accompanied by court music of the Chosun Dynasty and a fashion parade of envoys' costumes.

The 300-strong group reenacting the procession will consist of 80-plus Koreans, including a traditional Korean band, and members of the Lee Soo-hyun Memorial Service Committee.

The Chosun Goodwill Mission Culture Promotion Committee has reenacted the procession at a number of locations in Japan visited by the goodwill mission since 2003. This year it will go to Tsushima and Shimonoseki as well.

"Following a ceremony appointing the goodwill mission in May in Seoul, the procession will be reenacted in Uisong, North Gyeongsang Province, Milyang, South Gyeongsang Province, and Busan before moving on to Japan," the committee said.

(Park Ju-yung, park21@chosun.com )