Shelbyville breakfast Rotary Club hosted a Chamber Coffee for the South Korean GSE team Wednesday morning. Several members of the community turned out for the event, including City Mayor Wallace Cartwright, in which the Korean team enthusiastically performed their musical instruments. From left are: Jung-Won Seo, Ho-Suk Oh, Da-In Lee, the mayor, Jang-Ho Kim, and Yoon-Jin Kang. (T-G Photo by Sadie Fowler)

Five young professional men and women from South Korea arrived in Shelbyville Tuesday afternoon for a group study cultural exchange program sponsored by The Rotary Foundation.

The group is in Tennessee touring Rotary District 6780, which includes Shelbyville and parts of Middle and East Tennessee, to share their Korean culture with Tennesseans.

As part of the exchange, District 6780 is sending four non-Rotarian team members, including this reporter, with a Rotarian team leader to South Korea later this month.

The South Koreans arrived in Tennessee a couple weeks ago and toured areas east of Shelbyville. They will be in Bedford County until this weekend, then move on to visit other Rotary Clubs prior to their April 21 departure for South Korea.

The South Korean team is comprised of Ho-Suk Oh (team leader), an artist; Yoon-Jim Kang (team member), a nurse; Jung-Won Seo (team member), a singer who works in the field of information technology; Jan-Ho Kim (team member), a social worker who specializes in helping children in poverty; and Da-in Lee (team member), a government officer.

While in Shelbyville, breakfast and noon Rotarians have a full slate of activities for the professional team to participate in, including a tour of Waterfall Farms, a whiskey-tasting and tour of Jack Daniel's Distillery, a tour of the Bedford County Courthouse and other offices, The Fly Arts Center, and a tour of Bell Buckle, among many other activities.

On Wednesday, breakfast Rotary hosted a well-attended coffee for the group at the Chamber of Commerce where the South Koreans enthusiastically performed on their musical instruments. From there, breakfast Rotary showed the team several sites and agencies in Bedford County prior to a reception Wednesday evening at Cinnamon Ridge.

Noon Rotary hosts the group today and highlights are expected to include Waterfall Farms, tours of the Celebration Grounds and a pencil factory and dinner with their host families.

Barbara and Dr. Ted Blanton have welcomed the two South Korean men into their home and have delighted in the cultural exchange thus far, saying the Koreans are pleasant people who have opened themselves to American culture, especially seeming to enjoy our food.

Jim and Kim Allison are the hosts for the three women on the team. On the team's first night in Shelbyville, the Allisons hosted a ham dinner for the team which featured a variety of southern dishes.

The team will have dinner Saturday evening at The Walking Horse Hotel prior to their scheduled departure Sunday morning after attending local worship services.

Their next stop is Mount Juliet, where they will spend several days before returning to their home country at the same time Tennessee's group study exchange team leaves for its month-long trip to South Korea.