InterviewMODERNhan promotes Korean alcohol, hanbok worldwide

MODERNhan CEO Cho In-sun speaks during an opening ceremony for the company's gallery and store for Korean traditional alcohol at central Seoul's cultural Insa-dong neighborhood, Sunday. Courtesy of MODERNhan

The global rise of K-culture, driven by foods, beauty products, music and traditional heritage, has introduced the country to consumers around the world.

However, a more sophisticated and strategic approach is needed to help them experience deeper culture and further sustain trade, according to the head of a Seoul-based event planner dedicated to promoting the country’s heritage.

Cho In-sun, CEO of MODERNhan, plans and executes events involving Korean traditional culture including hanbok, or Korean traditional attire, and traditional alcoholic beverages. Through these events, she aims to promote Korea's cultural heritage to international visitors and other overseas consumers in a more engaging and immersive way.

Her latest project debuted on Sunday when she opened a gallery-slash-store in central Seoul's cultural Insa-dong neighborhood dedicated to Korean alcoholic ranging from traditional brews to modern spirits. Over 160 kinds of alcohols and a design glass to go with each of them are showcased inside the cozy space in the Seoul hotspot concentrated with businesses inspired by Korean traditions.

“The hottest Korean heritage categories since the K-culture’s global boom are traditional alcohol and hanbok," Cho said in an interview with The Korea Times at the gallery Tuesday.

"Alcohol has especially aroused significant global interest in recent years. Before the boom, it was just ‘exotic alcohol’ to them. Now, foreigners come with specific needs and desires to ‘drink Korea.'"

Cho will set up in front of the gallery a kiosk that features an artificial intelligence (AI) assisting with drink selection for visitors. Once learning their nationality, age, alcohol preferences and foods to pair with, the machine recommends best candidates. With the service in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese, she said the kiosk will be like four different sommeliers for visitors from around the world.

Go Heung-gon, master artisan of Korean traditional instruments and among the country's Intangible Cultural Heritage holders, tastes Scotch whisky next to a "gayageum," a traditional string instrument, in this Balvenie Makers Campaign poster from 2024. MODERNhan CEO Cho In-sun directed the campaign. Courtesy of MODERNhan

The kiosk, the result of a joint project by data collecting company Data Marketing Korea, is funded 100 million won ($67,000) from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for first six months of its development phase. The project was selected as one of 400 innovative business initiatives backed by the ministry for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises.

Cho was initially disappointed to find that there were no available statistics showing foreigners’ preferences for Korean alcohols by nationality or region. The disappointment led her to pursue the project on her own.

“The government kept saying it would bolster export of traditional alcoholic beverages, but neither the country’s food ministry nor tourism authority had such basic market data on potential global consumers. I mean, how will they globalize K-culture without having such critical information?” Cho said.

“Once the kiosk is launched, it will start saving that big data on which Korean alcohols will be mostly favored by which nationals. K-culture is a national asset and this big data will be shared with the government and industries to contribute to the sector’s global growth. The kiosk is called K-To-Go.”

Cho founded MODERNhan in 2013 after realizing that Korea needed an effective bridge between its traditional culture and the rest of the world. She left behind her career as a player of the "ajaeng" — a Korean traditional string instrument she had majored in at the Korea National University of Arts and performed for 17 years — to launch the business.

She believed there were a plenty of great Korean traditional musicians and outstanding performances, but the market demand was too limited. She wanted to introduce a larger market for them, helping them meet more consumers around the world.

MODERNhan CEO Cho In-sun plays the "ajaeng," a traditional Korean stringed instrument, during a lecture in this 2014 photo following her graduation from the Korea National University of Arts. Courtesy of MODERNhan

“More than a decade ago, I found it disturbing that while different countries offered their own traditional alcohols to their state guests, Korea chose Western wine instead of traditional Korean alcohol which I believed had a good selection. Out of regret from that experience, I became a qualified Korean traditional alcohol sommelier,” Cho said.

“Now, I work with 200 experts dedicated to Korean traditional arts and culture and collaborate for event, exhibition, education and content development. We are making an infrastructure where foreigners can enjoy our alcohol traditions and other heritage without any language barrier.

"In the past, we had to explain to foreigners about our culture and tradition. Now, they learn from Korean period dramas on Netflix and K-pop and come fully charged with curiosity about Korea. So we must now satisfy their higher level of interests they witnessed in those mass media including hanbok and traditional alcohol. If those K-contents opened doors for them, our role is to usher them to what is inside those doors.”

MODERNhan’s event-planning capabilities have attracted attention from central and local governments as well as global brands seeking to tap into the appeal of Korean traditions. The company has worked with clients including the ministries of foreign affairs, agriculture, food and rural affairs, and culture, sports and tourism, as well as the cities of Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, and Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.

Last year’s APEC summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, provided Cho with another opportunity to showcase her expertise. In 2023, she planned the opening ceremony for Gucci’s flagship store in Hannam-dong, Seoul, featuring “saekdong,” the multicolored stripes traditionally used in Korean clothing. The following year, she directed a yearlong campaign for Scotch single malt whisky brand Balvenie, which collaborated with traditional Korean music masters.

Across all these projects, she has asked herself how Korean traditions can be presented to foreign audiences in a modern language and a more contemporary, distinctive way.

“Chanel, Gucci and Balvenie have built their heritage over a century. MODERNhan will do the same for Korean heritage,” Cho said. “Tradition needs to be experienced, not preserved. My role is to translate it into a K-lifestyle that can be immediately consumable."