Samgyetang Exports

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Nowadays, the popular Korean chicken and ginseng soup "samgyetang" is exported to China. Despite the bird flu epidemic in Korea, makers of "samgyetang" continue to target the Chinese market by using chicken produced in bird flu free regions.

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This restaurant in Beijing specializing in the chicken and ginseng soup called "samgyetang," one of a handful of such places in the city, is packed with local customers. In Korea, "samgyetang" is mostly eaten in the summer, but Chinese diners prefer it in the winter.

[Soundbite] Chinese Customer : "Due to usage of medicinal herbs as ingredients, I feel warm and comfortable after eating this dish."

Each time "samgyetang" is served at this cafeteria, people stand in long lines to try the iconic Korean dish. Exports of processed "samgyetang," which began last June, have already surpassed 830,000 U.S. dollars. "Samgyetang" advertisements are broadcast on some 500 city bus routes in Beijing in time for the winter season, when the dish is in especially high demand.

[Soundbite] Lee Pil-hyung(Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp.) : ""Samgyetang" has become popular through Korean TV shows, but we launched advertisements on city buses operating in Beijing to promote it further among the ordinary public and expand the market."

The government says that processed "samgyetang" for export is safe to eat, as it is made with poultry produced in AI-free regions at least ten kilometers away from affected farms.