INTERVIEWS

Namdo Mall, the official online shopping mall of Jeollanam-do Province, has been selected as the top brand in the agricultural and specialty products category at the 2025 16th Korea National Brand Awards (NYF K-NBA).

Goesan-gun has won the Korea National Brand Award (NYF K-NBA) in the “Eco-friendly Organic City” category for 13 consecutive years and in the “Red Pepper Brand” category for 3 consecutive years.

Sunplus is Korea’s only nationwide joint fruit brand, developed in 2003 by the Korea Fruit Agricultural Cooperatives Association. It was developed to create a domestic fruit brand capable of competing with global leaders.

Incheon’s tap water brand, Incheon Haneulsu, has been awarded the Grand Prize in the Tap Water category at the “2025 16th Korea National Brand Awards (NYF K-NBA)” for the third consecutive year.

Goesan-gun has won the Korea National Brand Award (NYF K-NBA) in the “Eco-friendly Organic City” category for 13 consecutive years and in the “Red Pepper Brand” category for 3 consecutive years.

Yeosu, the romantic and healing city and an international marine tourism and resort destination, boasts 365 beautiful islands and a mild climate all year round. The breathtaking natural scenery including Hallyeohaesang and Dadohaehaesang National Marine Parks, and the pristine southern coastal waters are truly one-of-a-kind resources of Yeosu.

To enhance Seoul’s urban competitiveness and take a leap toward becoming a “Global Top 5 City” where people from all over the world want to live, visit, and invest, the city initiated the development of a new brand that clearly expresses its identity and charm starting in August 2022.

Visang Education is the representative education service provider, creating new global education models in the educational publication and the Edu Platform fields.

Together, produced by Binggrae, is Korea’s first authentic ice cream brand, launched in 1974. Binggrae, which began its dairy business in 1972, set out to develop a premium ice cream made with fresh milk instead of powdered milk.

LOTTE HIMART is evolving into a home and Lifestyle Retailer for consumers seeking everything from premium home appliances to convenience systems for a better quality of life.

Hyundai Duty Free has been awarded the top prize in the duty-free category at the 2025 16th Korea National Brand Awards (NYF K-NBA).

Completed in 2004, Christian Memorial Park was established to promote Christian-style burial culture and actively support land-use efficiency policies.

Since its launch in March 2019, HiteJinro’s TERRA has recorded the fastest initial sales growth among domestic beer brands. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, TERRA has maintained an impressive five-year average annual growth rate of 17%.

The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) has become the first public institution to win the ESG Management award in the public sector for two consecutive years at the 2025 16th Korea National Brand Awards (NYF K-NBA). The New York Festivals, one of the world’s top three advertising festivals, introduced the public sector ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Management category starting last year.

Seoul Business Agency(SBA), Seoul’s leading support organization for small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) celebrates its 27th anniversary this year.

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Kyungbok University declared Vision 2030, ‘Cultivating Talents, Training Champions!’ With this, the university presented its development strategies; △ completing a digital transformation as the university’s digital strategy, △constructing tailored services from a student success perspective as the student success strategy, △strengthening the brand through global network activities as the internal and external expansion and sharing strategy, and △ensuring sustainability through ESG management.

LG Electronics applied the clean case completing antibacterial treatment at the back of the heat exchanger where lots of moisture is formed.

Goongbe, a premium skincare brand dedicated to infants and sensitive skin, has once again proven its excellence by winning the 2025 16th Korea National Brand Award (NYF K-NBA)—marking its seventh consecutive year of recognition.

Dongwon F&B’s Yangban brand has established itself as a leading Korean-style home meal replacement (HMR) brand, captivating not only Korean consumers but also palates around the world.

Daesang’s flagship food brands, Jongga and Chungjungone, were named No. 1 in the Kimchi and Food Co-Brand categories, respectively, at the 2025 16th Korea National Brand Awards (NYF K-NBA), earning dual honors for the second consecutive year.

Founded in 1969, NH Investment & Securities has solidified its position as a comprehensive financial investment company by building a differentiated service offering and a broad portfolio in the face of a rapidly evolving financial landscape.

LG U+ won the grand prize in the Internet Bundled Services category at the 2025 16th National Brand Awards of Korea (NYF K-NBA). This marks the company’s 13th consecutive year of winning the National Brand Award since its first win in 2013.

KB Financial Group strives to practice mutual prosperity and fulfill its social responsibilities. The group aims to support small business owners, and small to medium-sized enterprises to enhance their competitiveness and facilitate growth. Through this, KB Financial Group promotes the self-reliance and growth of local communities and pursues the development of economic ecosystems connected to local communities.

Walkerhill Hotel & Resort has once again proven its status as a leading hotel in Korea by securing the top spot for nine consecutive years in the 2025 16th Korea National Brand Awards (NYF K-NBA) in the Hotel & Resort category.

Siwon School has won the grand prize in the Foreign Language Education category in the 15^th Korea National Brand Awards for the 10^th consecutive year. Siwon School develops and offers optimal foreign language learning content tailored to learners’ levels and ages. By providing such convenient content, its efforts have been recognized. Being selected for the grand prize attests to this achievement.

Incheon’s tap water brand, ‘Incheon Sky Water,’ has been awarded the grand prize for two consecutive years in the tap water brand category at the 15th National Brand Awards of Korea. In 2022, Incheon citizens participated in a public contest to name the water brand to convey the idea of reliable, safe, and healthy tap water, eventually choosing ‘Incheon Sky Water,’ which means clean water bestowed by the sky of Incheon, a leading international city with its own international airport.

Yes24 (yes24.com) started as the first Internet bookstore in Korea in 1998. With a commitment to continuously strive for customer satisfaction, it has maintained its position as the top online bookstore for 25 years. Now, it aims to transform into a ‘culture content platform’ that inspires life from the leading position as a domestic online bookstore.

Global restaurant franchise Genesis BBQ Group (“BBQ”) is experiencing explosive growth in the U.S. market. As of 2023, BBQ operates over 150 stores in 22 states and plans to expand to over 200 stores within the year.

Hyundai Livart leads the domestic premium furniture market with creative designs, top-notch materials, and technology. Departing from the conventional and uniform designs in the domestic furniture market, Hyundai Livart has focused on differentiation as the core design direction.

‘Ilmu’ of the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Company is a contemporary reinterpretation of the royal ancestral ritual music in the Jongmyo Shrine (Jongmyo Jeryeak), which is designated as the first National Intangible Cultural Heritage and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This large-scale ensemble dance performed by over 50 dancers has been receiving acclaim by highlighting the motion in stillness, the unique feature of Korean dance.

The Jeju tangerine brand, ‘Gyullojangsaeng,’ created by the Jeju National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and the Jeju Tangerine Association, won the prize in the 15th National Brand Awards. With this, Gyullojangsaeng has received the honor for 13 consecutive years, since 2012.

At the 15^th National Brand Awards of Korea, Uljin Snow Crab (County Mayor Son Byeong-bok) was selected as the winner for the 8^th consecutive year in the crab category. Uljin Snow Crab inhabits ultra-fine mud areas at depths ranging from 200 to 400 meters around Wangdolcho, Uljin, which has the perfect marine environment where cold and warm currents meet. Unlike crabs from other regions, Uljin Snow Crab is distinguished by its strong sweetness and intense aroma, garnering significant love from consumers.

Lotte World, celebrating its 35^th anniversary since opening in 1989, stands as Korea’s premier comprehensive entertainment company. Alongside its Water Park and Aquarium greeting their 10^th anniversary this year, Seoul Sky and Adventure Busan, Lotte World keeps successfully operating adventure facilities. Lotte World realized its vision of ‘global entertainment’ by opening Lotte World Aquarium in Hanoi, Vietnam last August.

The Christian Memorial Park actively participates in establishing Christian burial culture and contributes to the nation’s land efficiency policy. Since its inauguration in 2004, the Christian Memorial Park has expanded significantly, with the consecration of over 4,000 burial tablets in November 2009 and the addition of 15,000 more in August 2016 through the expansion of Victory Hall. With 10 memorial halls, burial tablets, family graves, and a memorial garden, it solidifies its position as Korea’s representative memorial park, accommodating a total of 39,122 burial tablets.

Seegene Medical Foundation, a specialized medical institution for disease testing, is continuously innovating under the mission of ‘enhancing human health and happiness’. It has established the Smart Lab, equipped with the largest automated testing system in Korea, and has developed next-generation diagnostic testing systems based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for application in the testing sector.

Seoul National University Hospital Gangnam Center (“Gangnam Center”) has won the grand prize in the Healthcare System category at the 15th Korea National Brand Awards for the 11th consecutive year. Gangnam Center received high praise for △ patient-centered screening service and △ leading trends in future-oriented healthcare services utilizing information and communication technology.

Incheon National University (President Jong-Tae Park) has won the top prize in the National Public University category for three consecutive years at the ‘2024 Korea National Brand Awards’, following its victories in 2022 and 2023. The ‘Korea National Brand Awards’ is hosted by one of the world’s top three advertising festivals, the New York Festivals, and is sponsored by Chosun Ilbo. It annually selects and announces the leading brands in various fields representing Korea based on the National Brand Competitiveness Index.

Since its establishment in 1969, NH Investment & Securities has grown alongside its customers for over 50 years. By prioritizing customer values and practicing customer-centric management, it has solidified its position as Korea’s leading comprehensive financial investment company with outstanding competitiveness across all business sectors. Furthermore, it continues to flexibly adapt to the rapidly changing financial environment, building differentiated services, and a comprehensive portfolio. Throughout this journey, NH Investment & Securities strives to maintain customer choice and trust, positively impacting stakeholders.

Cheongju is a business-friendly city where large and small enterprises coexist. It has established a foundation for ‘food for the next 100 years’ by attracting promising companies in strategic industries such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and biotechnology. Additionally, Cheongju is centrally located in the transportation network of Korea, with access within two hours from anywhere in Korea, thanks to KTX Osong Station and Cheongju International Airport.

ECPlaza is a specialized trade platform company that conducts online promotion for domestic and foreign exporters, as well as the discovery of overseas buyers. Since developing the first domestic global trade B2B (business-to-business) in Korea in 1996, ECPlaza.net has been in operation for 26 years. Over the past 22 years, it has accumulated a vast database of domestic and international member companies and overseas buyer data, providing excellent online trade solutions.

‘Dawn 808’ by Grammy Co., Ltd., the invention patent company (Chairman Nam Jong-hyun), is the first natural tea for hangover relief in the world. Since its launch in 1998, it has been the number one hangover relief brand, contributing to fostering the healthy drinking culture of ‘Happy Homes, Healthy Me.’

Last month, DB Insurance (represented by Jeong Jong-pyo) saw an upgrade in its credit rating from the world’s largest credit rating agency, S&P (Standard & Poor’s). The rating was raised from A (Stable) to A+ (Stable), the first upgrade since 2018.

Dongwon F&B is a leading comprehensive food company in Korea, launching a variety of food products, including the first canned tuna in Korea, ‘Dongwon Tuna,’ as well as △seafood processed foods, △canned ham, △frozen and refrigerated foods, △dairy processed foods, △health functional foods, and △home meal replacements (HMR).

LG Uplus provides various home services based on the Internet, including △Internet TV ‘U+tv next’ and △an IoT (Internet of Things) service, U+Smart Home equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. Last August, U+tv next significantly improved the convenience of content viewing. In addition to real-time broadcast content provided by previous U+tv, customers can conveniently watch personalized video-on-demand (VOD) and video streaming services (OTT) tailored to their profiles in one place.

Chungbuk is the new name of Chungcheongbuk-do, ‘Chungbuk, Stand at the Heart of Korea,’ won the Grand Prize in the Brand Slogan category at the 15th Korea National Brand Awards. The committee highly appreciated Chungbuk’s brand slogan for its active communication with citizens. In fact, over 3,000 citizens participated in the brand slogan contest held in April last year. The design was also completed with the input from citizens, including ideas from the ‘Youth Brand Participation Team,’ composed of students from 11 design departments in the universities in Chungbuk, and through the Korea Design Competition.

The Seoul Business Agency (Representative Director: Kim Hyunwoo) is a small and medium enterprise support institution dedicated to fostering beauty, content, and innovation SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and activating the startup ecosystem in Seoul. For the past 26 years, since its establishment, it has been expanding the startup ecosystem through public-private partnerships in technology, content, beauty, and other areas, supporting SME’s growth into global companies as well as nurturing outstanding SMEs and corporate talents in Seoul.

Kia Members is the membership brand initiated by Kia in 2006, marking the industry’s first membership brand. With △the launch of ‘Kia EV Members’ in 2021 and △’Kia EV Members Taxi’ in 2022, it provides tailored membership services for electric vehicle owners.

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Kyungbok University declared Vision 2030, ‘Cultivating Talents, Training Champions!’ With this, the university presented its development strategies; △ completing a digital transformation as the university’s digital strategy, △constructing tailored services from a student success perspective as the student success strategy, △strengthening the brand through global network activities as the internal and external expansion and sharing strategy, and △ensuring sustainability through ESG management.

President Hosang Ahn of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts is the professional arts manager recr eating traditional Korean performances, including traditional Korean opera, dance, music, and content favored by every generation. President Hosang Ahn of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts worked as the Director of the Performance Project Bureau and the Arts Project Bureau in the Seoul Arts Center, CEO of Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, and the CEO of National Theater of Korea. Since his appointment as the President of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in 2021, President Ahn set the main goal of, ‘conversion to production theater’ and has been endeavoring to develop the culture and arts of Korea, including enhancing the capability of art troupes affiliated with the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. When he was the CEO of National Theater of Korea, he introduced a ‘seasonal repertoire system’ for good performing arts of the affiliated troupes for the first time in Korea. The seasonal repertoires continue to sellout.

La Bella Opera Company is the private opera company founded on May 1, 2007 with the motto ‘impressive performance’. La Bella Opera Company verified its brand dignity by receiving the prize three times from 2018 and 2020.

Hansamin is the representative brand of NH Red Ginseng. NH Red Ginseng was founded with 100% Korean capital of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in 2002. NH Red Ginseng takes care of public health and increase of ginseng farmers’ income.

Cucheon, the premium home appliance brand, has been advancing with the technology and knowhow accumulated for about 40 years under its management philosophy ‘top priority on customers’ satisfaction’. The driving force providing the best products and service for consumers is guided by management philosophies, including customer-oriented management, smart management and communicating management. Under those management philosophies, Cuchen has been presenting cookers, microwave ovens, and small home appliances with a variety of functions and designs.

U Nine Change is NGO for international rescue. The name U Nine Change means finding the rights for ‘9 kinds of happiness’ on the basis of fairness and transparency. U Nine Change helps needy children in Korea and abroad with medical service and education. Activists include experts in diverse fields, including doctors and producers. The activists aim to find the rights to be happy for all children in the world. Activists endeavor to treat and prevent diseases of children suffering from poverty and unequality in the world.

K-NBA selects the most competitive and best brands representing Korea. Consumers directly evaluate the brands in the aspects of ▲brand awareness, ▲ representativeness, ▲ satisfaction, ▲ loyalty and ▲ global competitiveness. K-NBA is presented to the best brands per category representing industry, city, policy, agricultural food, and culture of Korea.

Gang Wonder Mall has received the prize for three consecutive years with the highest score in consumers’ awareness, representativeness, and satisfaction. Gang Wonder Mall is increasing consumers’ reliability and awareness by systematically supplying a variety of agricultural and marine specialties and products of Gangwon-do. Gang Wonder Mall, the representative shopping mall of Gangwon-do, sells a wide range of products, including about 19,500 agricultural, livestock, and forest products from about 900 small and medium enterprises in Gangwon-do.

Jincheon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do has emerged as a business-friendly city with competitiveness by attracting good enterprises and increasing employment and population.

Specialized in automobiles, Ajou Motor College is a small college with less than 1,000 students. However, Ajou Motor College has been strongly influencing the automobile industry by concentrating only on one field, automobiles, for a long time. In particular, Ajou Motor College is proud of the best infrastructure and automobile technology education in Korea, increasing the satisfaction of students through special education programs. Moreover, Ajou Motor college provides the best learning environment for students by continuing investment on the basis of the stable finance.

yes2424 acquired KS certification for moving service for the first time in Korea. yes2424 comprises teams with a team leader and team members (2 Yes men, one aid), the moving specialists and provides the packing and moving service using a 5t vehicle (one vehicle). Booking, ordering, estimating, and contracting are processed by calling (1577-2424) or on its website (yes2424.com) in real time 24 hours a day. The unique feature of yes2424 is the disclosure of basic rate for moving services on the website as a direct moving service without a brokerage fee.

Incheon Waterworks Headquarter was selected as the new name of tap water through a public contest in October 2021 with the ambition to ‘produce healthy and clean tap water with citizens’. Brand identity (BI) production and selection was also determined through the preference survey with citizens and the brand declaration ceremony was held in March 2022.

K-NBA is the awarding ceremony jointly held by New York Festivals, one of World Top 3 Advertising Festivals, and the Korean Steering Committee of K-NBA. K-NBA selects and announces the most valuable and competitive national brands of Korea as national assets. K-NBA selects and awards the representative brands of Korea through direct evaluation by consumers on the basis of multilateral evaluation items, including awareness, representativeness, satisfaction, loyalty, and global competitiveness. Gangnam Center showed off overwhelming brand awareness and reliability with high scores on all items.

K-NBA evaluated the brands representing culture, industry and region, the core components of national image, in various aspects. Goesan-gun became the ‘national brand’ for an eco-friendly organic farming city with great evaluation results in awareness, representativeness, satisfaction, loyalty, global competitiveness, and preference.

DB Insurance executed the acquisition agreement for VNI (Vietnam National Aviation Insurance), ranked 10th in the damage insurance market in Vietnam on February 22, 2022. DB Insurance took over a 37.32% stake of PTI (Post & Telecommunication Insurance), Vietnam, ranked 5th (3rd at present) in market share in 2015. DB Insurance acquired a 75% stake of VNI securing the control of the company. VNI, established in 2008, is the good damage insurance company achieving a high growth rate and profitability for five recent years. VNI ranked 10th among 32 damage insurance companies and 3rd in the automobile insurance market (1st in statutory automobile insurance) with a market share of 3.7% as of 2021. In particular, VNI is recognized for its ability for potential growth because of the nationwide sales network and compensation infrastructure.

K-NBA Award verified that Uljin Crab, the representative brand of Uljin-gun, was highly recognized by consumers.
The crab preferred by everyone is popular as a healthy food because of the effectiveness of strengthening bones with rich vitamins, amino acids, and chitosan.

Opened directly managed restaurant No. 1 on the 32nd street in Manhattan, New York in 2017, BBQ has been operating over 150 restaurants in 22 states, including restaurants in Chicago and Los Angeles, and plans to increase to over 200 restaurants this year.

Yeosu is the city of romanticism and healing with superb nature and landscapes, including Hallyeohaesang National Marine Park and Dadohae National Marine Park, the clean ocean of the southern coast, and a lukewarm climate. Yeosu is filled with the famous places of romanticism, including Hyangiram Hermitage with the praying hope of sunrise, Dongbaekseom Island, Odongdo Island, Geumodo Island, with vertical rocks of fantastic shapes, Kkotseom Sang/Hahwa-do Islands, and Gasari Eco Park, with fantastic field of reeds.

Seegene Medical Foundation keeps innovating to fulfill its vocation ‘improvement of happiness and health of people in the world’. Accordingly, Seegene Medical Foundation developed the next generation diagnostic check system on the basis of the Artificial Intelligence technology as well as forming the smart lab with the largest laboratory computerization system in Korea and applied it to medical examinations.

2023 K-NBA is the prestigious award selecting the best brands of Korea through fair a examination by experts and by direct voting by consumers. Goesan Clean Red Pepper is honored by winning the award in the agricultural specialty red pepper brand. Produced in the alpine region 250m above sea level, with huge daily temperature range, Goesan Clean Red Pepper has clear color and a unique and delicious taste and scent. Goesan Clean Red Pepper gets a favorable response as it has thick skin and good texture.

Cookcell provides its main products ▲ frying pans, ▲ woks, and ▲ pots in the hybrid form, combining stainless steel and coating. Cookcell presents the differentiated and competitive products with its patented technologies in Korea, Germany, and China.

Woori Card has been establishing the ‘brand core values’ and ‘brand essence’ on the basis of ‘being Woori’, even during the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic recession. Woori Card enhanced communication with clients by developing and providing differentiated services on the basis of the brand core values and brand essence, and such achievement is widely recognized.

U+TV, the IPTV service of LG Uplus, changed itself to an OTT (Over The Top: providing media contents online) TV service in November 2022. OTT TV presents a wide range of popular content, including OTT, such as Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Children’s Land, and Homet Now for LG Uplus.

KIA Members, the membership brand implemented by KIA for the first time in the automotive industry in 2006, provides custom membership services for electric cars, launching the ‘KIA EV Members’ in 2021 and ‘KIA EV Members Taxi’ in 2022.