Around 4,000 people from around the world are to take part in a charity event in Seoul early next month to make kimchi for impoverished residents as the Seoul metropolitan government will hold a three-day festival to cherish the Korean tradition of making and sharing the iconic spicy fermented cabbage side dish, the local government said Thursday.

The Seoul Kimchi Festival, which will open on Nov. 4, is aimed at promoting the Korean practice of making a great deal of kimchi ahead of the long winter months and sharing it with relatives and neighbors. The practice, called "kimjang" in Korean, made the UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritages in 2013.

On Nov. 4, the people are to get together at a plaza in front of the Seoul City Hall to mix salted cabbage, one of the main ingredients in kimchi, with red pepper powder and other seasonings to make 50 tons of the dish that will be delivered to impoverished people.

On the same day, around 1,000 people including descendants of the ancient Korean kingdom of Koguryo are scheduled to participate in the same event in Tokyo's Shinjuku.

To prepare for the festival, the Seoul local government held events in August to plant cabbage seedlings on an island in the Han River bisecting the South Korean capital and the beautiful UNESCO-listed shrine of Koma Jinja in the Japanese city of Hidaka near Tokyo, respectively.

The opening ceremonies in Seoul and Tokyo will be broadcast at the same day.

On the festival's last day, 1,000 peopled will be invited to a feast in which kimchi and boiled pork meat called "suyuk" are served. (Yonhap)