The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Monday its latest cultural brand effort -- “K-Ribbon” marks awarded to cultural products deemed to best represent Korea.

The K-Ribbon marks are given to cultural products that possess “Korea’s unique cultural values,” according to the ministry, with the aim of creating new premium brands through systematic management and marketing.

“The new K-Ribbon mark has been established in an effort to increase Korea’s brand power,” said Park Young-guk of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism during a press conference in Seoul on Monday.

“When people see this mark, they will immediately come to understand the high-quality and cultural standard of the item that is believed to best represent the essence of Korean culture,” Park added. 

The “K-Ribbon” branding, implemented last November, covers a wide range of cultural products that represent Korea. The selected items are divided into several categories including: cultural content (animation, characters, comics), hanbok (traditional and new dress designs, accessories); handicrafts; and Korean cuisine. So far a total of 114 products have been given the ministry’s seal of approval, including the latest batch of 35 items selected in September.

“Believing that we need to create a new growth engine through convergence and collaboration based on creativity for Korea’s existence and further development in the fourth industrial revolution, I’ve been reiterating the importance of creativity,” said Cho Yoon-sun, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in an official statement. 

“Creativity, the core element of culture, can give infinite added value to our traditional culture. Small things like a painting, a teacup, or a bottle of soy sauce can become more special with a story behind it,” she added. “The system to select the finest cultural products represented by the K-Ribbon mark has been developed to combine special cultural characteristics with new technologies so as to enhance their value as cultural products and promote Korean cultural products in and out of Korea.”

Excellent Cultural Product Shops can be found at popular shopping spots across Seoul, including the K-Style Hub’s Art Market Hall, Incheon Airport, KCDF Gallery in Insa-dong, Cheong Wa Dae Sarangchae, Seoul 284 Culture Shop and Myeong-dong’s Shinsegae Department Store. For those outside of Korea, K-Ribbon cultural items can also be purchased online at the kmall24 (www.kmall24.com).

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)