Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Korea to hold promotional events of halal restaurants
By Bahk Eun-ji
The nation's tourism authorities will hold events to promote halal restaurants across the country next month, to help Muslim tourists locate halal restaurants here, according to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Wednesday.
A poster of the 2019 Halal Restaurant Week Korea which will start on Sept. 1 and continue for two months. Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization
By Bahk Eun-ji
The KTO and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have been holding the Halal Restaurant Week Korea event since 2016 for the convenience of Muslim visitors and to address one of the biggest hurdles they face while visiting Korea.
Halal restaurants do not sell pork and have some halal foods on their menus. Halal means “lawful” or “permitted” in Arabic, which means the food is prepared in accordance with religious rules.
The annual event will last for two months through Oct. 31. During the event, Muslim visitors will enjoy discounts at 152 KTO-designated halal restaurants and 40 major tourist destinations across the country.
Visitors can bring coupon books, which will be distributed at KTO's overseas branches and tourist information centers in Korea, or visit hrwkorea.or.kr to download mobile coupons.
The number of participating restaurants has grown from 95 in 2016 to 152 this year.
Before the event, the KTO will also hold a conference at the InterContinental Seoul COEX on Thursday. During the conference, many Muslim-related companies will provide information on their businesses and relevant agencies will offer tourists the chance to experience Korean cuisine made with halal ingredients.
It will also hold the Muslim Friendly Korea Festival in Jakarta from Sept. 6 to 8 to promote the event in Indonesia, the country from which the largest number of Muslim visitors come to Korea. More than 40 Korean companies will take part in the event, the KTO said.
“The number of Muslim visitors to Korea is expected to surpass 1 million this year for the first time,” a KTO official said. “We are making an effort to develop quality tour programs for Muslim tourists to meet varied demands from them.”