The Republic of Korea Strengthens Protection of the K-Food Brand

Sejong, 7 July 2025 — On 30 June 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) held a meeting of the Counterfeit K-Food Products Response Consultative Group for the first half of the year 2025 at aT Centre in Seoul.

With a rising global popularity of Korean food (K-Food) products, low-priced and low-quality counterfeit K-Food products are being supplied to and sold in the market. Accordingly, the MAFRA and the KIPO discussed countermeasures with export companies and the Korea Food Industry Association (KFIA) to protect the rights of Korean export companies and prevent the infringement upon the brand value of K-Food.

The discussions were made about the following: (a) the monitoring results about counterfeit K-Food products and trademark squatting, (b) the current status of education and counselling for export companies, (c) tasks for responding to counterfeit K-Food products in the second half of this year, and (d) challenges faced by export companies and support measures for them. 

Director General Shin Sang-kon of the Intellectual Property Protection & International Cooperation Bureau of the KIPO said: “The number of counterfeit K-Food products is increasing sharply. Therefore, we are very concerned that it will create challenges for Korean export companies and tarnish the brand value of K-Food. Therefore, we will step up the measures to prevent the damage to Korean companies caused by counterfeit K-Food products and help them out with such challenges. To this end, we will continue to work together with related ministries and government agencies.”

Director General Joo Won-chul of the Food Industry Policy Bureau of the MAFRA said: “The exports of K-Food for this year have increased by 7% from the previous year and the growth is on a solid trend. We will continue to work hard to monitor overseas markets for counterfeit Korean food products to ensure that Korean companies will not have difficulties in entering overseas markets. And to make this possible, we will also provide all the necessary support for them in terms of education, counselling, patent application and registration, etc.”