Yeongju ships local farm products to LA Korean Festival

Yeongju City in North Gyeongsang Province held a shipment ceremony Wednesday for local agricultural and specialty products bound for a promotional event at the LA Korean Festival, hosted by the Yeongju Export Companies Council at the Yeongju General Industrial Complex in Bonghyeon-myeon.

About 30 people attended the ceremony, including Yeongju Mayor Hwang Byeong-jik, provincial and city lawmakers, and officials from export-related agencies.

The shipment comprises 35 product lines from seven local agricultural export companies, totaling 10 metric tons.

Items include red ginseng, bugak (deep-fried vegetable chips), grape jam, granola, perilla oil, wild-cultivated ginseng and apple juice — valued at $120,000.

The products will be showcased to local consumers at the LA Korean Festival, held from Oct. 1 to 4 at Seoul International Park in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

Yeongju City plans to operate three booths at the festival to promote and sell the local products.

Kwon Heon-jun, chairman of the Yeongju Export Companies Council, said he hopes the city's participation "will serve as an opportunity to demonstrate the excellence of Yeongju's agricultural products and secure a foothold in the US market."

Mayor Hwang said the city will work closely with local Korean associations and importers and retailers in the United States to pursue marketing tailored to the American market, adding that it will spare no effort to expand overseas sales channels and raise the profile of Yeongju's agricultural and specialty products.