Food minister determined to bolster traditional alcohol exports

Policies to put more makgeolli, soju under special category

By Ko Dong-hwan

CHEONGJU, North Chungcheong Province — Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung said Thursday that she will boost the country’s traditional alcohol exports by strengthening local breweries and enhancing overseas promotion efforts.

Her remarks came during a visit to a traditional brewery in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, where she listened to the brewery’s needs and aspirations for expanding its overseas sales.

The consumption of Korean traditional alcoholic beverages, such as distilled soju and "makgeolli," a fermented, milky rice wine, has relied primarily on domestic sales. The minister stated that legally categorizing domestic alcohol products as traditional products — currently totaling 12 types — should begin to better represent the country overseas.

“Compared to Japan’s sake and France’s wine, Korean traditional alcoholic beverages still lag behind in terms of global recognition. We should promote these products to the world by highlighting their pairing with our globally popular K-foods,” Song said during a press conference in Cheongju following her tour of Sejong Brewery. The brewery produces eight different traditional alcohol products, including makgeolli and soju.

The most effective way to boost the sales of Korea's traditional alcohol is through global promotion, according to Song and Kyung Gi-ho, CEO of Sejong Brewery. Kyung emphasized that marketing traditional alcohol should be funded by the government, rather than the breweries, due to budget constraints.

“Currently, traditional alcoholic beverages are relying on the Korean wave, on the back of Korean celebrities and media content to make themselves better known to consumers overseas," Kyung said.

"The government should start advertising the products to the world. That will improve the global image of makgeolli and also bolster the consumption of rice in our country through the more active production of traditional alcoholic beverages.”

Song said she will seek partnerships with Korean embassies and other government agencies abroad to promote the products around the world.

“Our traditional alcoholic beverages are a perfect gift for our foreign dignitaries,” Song said.

Rice consumption in Korea, which has been slowing down over the years and is expected to decline further, will rebound if production expands for traditional alcoholic beverages, which are brewed from fermenting rice, according to Song. Sejong Brewery said it currently uses 600 tons of rice per year, 70 percent of which is domestic.

“Japanese breweries consume 300,000 tons of local rice for sake production per year while we use just 5,600 tons of local rice for our traditional alcohol,” Song said. “Within five years, we must raise that figure to at least 30,000 tons.”

The government plans to revise related laws to encourage more local breweries to produce traditional products, according to the minister. She stated that the government will begin approving small breweries for traditional alcohol production, which these breweries have so far been restricted from pursuing due to licensing limitations.

Song added that the government will include traditional alcohol products on the list of items eligible for purchase with the Clean Card. The Clean Card, a corporate-issued credit card, is restricted from use at businesses unrelated to public servants' duties, such as entertainment venues, leisure activities, gambling establishments and bars, to prevent misuse for illegitimate purposes.

The government will also revise the legal requirements for producing traditional alcohol by reducing the mandatory percentage of local grains used as an ingredient from 100 percent to 95 percent, she added.