[Economy PICK] "Makgeolli Good"...K-Traditionalism's Global Possibility

[Anchor]
Makgeolli Good, K Traditionalism Global Possibility. There was a traditional liquor festival?

[Reporter]
That's right. I went there last week and it was truly a crowd. I wondered if there would be a lot of people, and there were a lot of young people and foreigners. So I asked a foreigner in Korean. Let's listen to it.

[Olga / Russian tourist: Regular soju is fine, but I also like traditional soju and yakju. Why do you like it?] I was originally interested in various Korean traditions, but I became especially interested in traditional liquor. Because it's a tradition that was lost in the past, I think it's so beautiful that Koreans want to save the tradition, and the taste is so diverse that everyone can enjoy it comfortably, so I like it like this.

[Anchor]
K-food is popular around the world these days. Then, can our traditional liquor increase in popularity in the future?

[Reporter]
I hope so, but after covering it, it's not easy. I'll explain it graphically. When you look at global exports, you saw that we were getting better. In terms of percentage, it's 0.3%, and it's in the 33rd place. It's still really weak, but it's that much more likely. If you look at the second graphic, our exports have continued to increase. Especially during COVID-19, it peaked. The problem is that it fell last year and entered a downward trend. Because the companies we showed you now are very large companies in France, England, and Italy, but if you look at the following graphic, most of our traditional liquor operators are small companies. If you look at it, most of them are over 90%. In this situation, the demand for alcohol these days itself is becoming premium, low alcohol, and very diverse, so a thorough strategy suitable for this seems necessary.

[Anchor]
I see. Thank you very much. So far, I've been with reporter Oh Dong-gun. Thank you.