Korea is to take measures to globally promote Hansik, or Korean food, as one of the world's top five cuisines, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Wednesday (Oct 15).

At the Korea Food Expo 2008 currently on at a convention center in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo will preside over a ceremony Thursday to promote the launch of a campaign to globalize Hansik before an audience of 120, including representatives from farmers, fishermen and consumer groups and ambassadors to Korea, the ministry said in a media release.

During the ceremony, Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Chang Tae-pyong will announce the ministry's strategies and tasks to develop Korean food as one of the top five foods in the world by 2017.

The ministry's proposed strategic tasks include certification of Korean restaurants overseas, expanding research and development in the Korean food industry, nurture talented human resources specialized in Hansik, boost investment in the Korean food industry and devise measures to promote Korean food culture.

Among the participants of the ceremony include actors and actresses from a famous SBS TV drama Sikgaek featuring top Korean chefs -- Kim Rae-won, Nam Sang-mi, Kim So-yeon and Choi Bool-am -- and its director Choe Jong-su will attend the ceremony along with well-known Korean chef Kwon Young-min, also known as Edward Kwon, who works as head chef in Dubai's Burj Al Arab (Tower of Arabs) and world-famous designer Andre Kim.

International seminars are also scheduled to be held to discuss case study of Italian and Japanese cuisines and ways to promote the excellence of traditional Korean food.

Director of the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners Bruno Libralon will share the successful knowhow of globalizing Italian food while Edward Kwon will deliver his ideas to globalize Korean food by understanding international trends in the food industry.

To promote Korean food globally, the Korean government will also set up detailed projects to increase the number of Korean restaurants overseas from 10,000 to 40,000 by 2017, in order to place Korean dishes as one of top five cuisines in the world, the ministry said in the media release.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer