Konkuk University Student Wins Top Prize in Korea-China Video Challenge with Traditional Myth "Baridegi"

[Financial News] Students from Konkuk University's Department of Film and Media Studies have won the top prize at a Korea-China university video contest with a creative work that combines artificial intelligence technology and a traditional Korean folktale.
Konkuk University said on the 26th that a team of first-year students from the College of Art & Design's Department of Film and Media Studies — Park Sol-eun, Lee Hye-rin and Son Seo-young — won the Grand Award for their work "Baridegi" at the "Kling AI NEXTGEN 2026 University Creative Challenge," co-hosted by Kling AI and MBC C&I.
"Baridegi," which took the top prize, is a work that reinterprets one of Korea's best-known shamanic myths in the form of a striking music video using generative AI technology. Rather than focusing on the Confucian ideals of filial piety and sacrifice emphasized in the original tale, it centers on a young girl's journey of growth as she overcomes harsh trials in the underworld and is reborn as a deity after leaping into flames.
Park Sol-eun, the team leader, said, "We wanted to look at Baridegi's sacrifice, which had long been taken for granted in the name of filial piety, from a new perspective." She added, "We turned the story of a girl overcoming hardship and being reborn as a god into a music video with powerful visuals."
Experts also praised the work for its artistic value and technical polish. Song Kyung-won, editor-in-chief of Cine21 and one of the judges, called it "a superb piece that brings back a Korean shamanic myth, passed down only through oral tradition, using AI, the language of today." He added that the visual direction, including flames, water currents and lotus flowers, along with the flow leading to the climax, successfully captured the mythic imagination with a high level of completion.
The project also broadened the participating creators' view of generative AI. Son Seo-young said, "I had generally kept some distance from AI-generated works, but through this project I came to see AI as a useful tool that can support creativity."
The contest was designed to expand creative fields using AI technology and discover the next generation of talent to lead the future video content industry. University students from Korea and China submitted a wide range of AI video works, making the competition intense.

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter