Pop singer Kim Jang-hoon promoted Hangeul in the United States with an event giving out T-shirts emblazed with the Korea alphabet in New York, Wednesday.

The event was to celebrate Hangeul Day, which falls on Oct. 9 each year.

Kim and Korean students at New York University handed out 600 white T-shirts in Washington Square Park.

The T-shirts had two variations ― one lettered with “nanum,” a word meaning sharing, and the other with Hangeul, both written in Korean.

“All 600 T-shirts were handed out in 50 minutes. The popularity of the Hangeul T-shirts was explosive,” Kim wrote on his me2day microblog. “I held an event with NYU students to distribute Hangeul T-shirts for free. Foreigners rushed to get one and loved the calligraphy Korean letters. I think I have to go on with such events.”

“Students at two design schools are scheduled to join the second T-shirt giveaway in November,” he added.

Kim readily accepted an offer for the event from the Korean students when he gave a special lecture as an invited speaker early this year. Next month, he will give away 1,000 T-shirts with different designs at a different place.

The 47-year-old singer also plans an exhibition of Korean fonts for New York graphic designers, a show with Korean students to promote Dokdo as Korean territory, and a “high-end Korea” festival.

He will give a lecture to Korean students in Toronto, Canada, as a fund raiser for former Korean comfort women, who were taken by Japan to provide sex to its soldiers during World War II. He is also holding a concert in Toronto as part of his North American tour on Saturday.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)