The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will run ads for gim inside the stadiums of LAFC and the San Francisco Giants. These are the clubs where soccer player Son Heung-min and baseball player Lee Jung-hoo play.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced that it has entered into an official sponsorship with ‘LAFC(U.S. soccer)’ and ‘San Francisco Giants(U.S. baseball)’ to promote Korean gim.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will display the ‘gim(GIM)’ logo on the main stadium scoreboard along with videos and images featuring Son Heung-min and Lee Jung-hoo. It will also hold a variety of on- and offline events, including gim tastings and giveaways, in and around the stadium.

Korean gim products are scheduled to be stocked and sold at concession stands in LAFC’s main stadium, and the plan is to encourage greater awareness and purchases of Korean gim by producing LAFC fan merchandise bearing the ‘gim(GIM)’ logo, among other measures.

This sponsorship agreement was pursued as part of the ‘Sea-ports Project’ to raise local-market recognition of Korean gim overseas. The ‘Sea-ports Project’ is a portmanteau of ‘seafood(Sea food·seafood)’ and sports, referring to a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plan to promote seafood through sports.

Although Korean gim accounts for over about 70% of the global market, it is more often referred to in the global market by the Japanese term ‘nori(のり, Nori)’ or by the generic term ‘Seaweed’, and awareness that ‘gim’ is Korean is not high.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to widely promote Korean gim in the U.S. market, the top destination for gim exports, and to solidify the standing of high-quality Korean gim in the global market.

Minister Hwang Jong-woo of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said, “Based on collaboration with world-class athletes, we will be able to introduce the excellent taste and quality of Korean gim (GIM) to the global market,” adding, “We will spare no policy support so that our country can solidify its position as the No. 1 exporter of gim.”