Kwang Dong, Jeju bolstering ties

A green tea plantation on Jeju Island is shown in this file photo. Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical has been launching diverse products using agricultural products from the island, including green tea. / Korea Times file

Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical is strengthening its cooperation with Jeju Island, using diverse crops grown on the island in its products.

The company said it signed contracts with farmers in Jeju Province to obtain black beans for its soy milk and help farmers increase their income.

The black beans will be planted in around 20,000 pyeong, or 66,000 square meters of land, in Samyang-dong, Jeju Island, to be harvested in autumn. The pharmaceutical company will purchase the whole harvest to make its soy milk products, and added that it will increase the quantity of the bean purchases from Jeju farmers each year.

The contract is part of the company’s effort to bolster ties with the island. Kwang Dong was chosen as the distributor of Samdasoo, a popular bottled water brand of Jeju Island, early this year, and it has been launching diverse products using agricultural products from the island. It recently launched a lemon flavored green tea using organic green tea grown in Jeju.

The island is known as one of the best places for green tea cultivation in the country, for huge daily temperature ranges and the soil which contains abundant calcium and magnesium. The subsurface water, filtered through the volcanic ash soil of the island, is also known to boost the quality of the green tea leafs there.