[Provided by North Gyeongsang Province]
[Provided by North Gyeongsang Province]

North Gyeongsang Province has established a dedicated bureau to oversee its food industry, food technology, culinary culture content and K-food globalization efforts, marking a major policy push as the province enters its ninth elected-term administration.

The province held a signboard-unveiling ceremony Monday outside the new bureau's offices at the provincial headquarters in Andong, with Gov. Lee Cheol-woo joined by about 20 officials and industry representatives — including Kim Dae-jin, chair of the provincial assembly's culture and environment committee, and representatives from the Korea Food Research Institute's North Gyeongsang branch, the North Gyeongsang Biotech Industry Research Institute, Kyungpook National University's specialty food research center, the Korea Food Service Industry Association's North Gyeongsang chapter and the North Gyeongsang Food Export Companies Association.

The new Food Hallyu Industry Bureau will serve as a control tower for the province's food sector, with core functions spanning the development and implementation of a comprehensive food hallyu industry promotion plan, investment attraction and support for food-tech companies, food tourism promotion and culinary culture development, and the securing of overseas certification and export bases for K-food.

The bureau will actively support research and development of senior-friendly foods and health functional foods — known as Silver-Tech Food — using locally sourced ingredients such as Cheongsong apples, Uiseong garlic and Yeongju Punggi ginseng. The effort will be anchored by the province's green biotech industry promotion zones in Pohang, Andong, Sangju, Uiseong and Yecheon, as well as a food convergence cluster specializing in yam, ginger, omija berry and hemp seed.

The bureau will also advance AI-based autonomous food manufacturing processes and robotic automation demonstrations for small and midsize food companies, centered on three food-tech research support centers in Pohang, Gumi and Uiseong.

Alongside this, the province plans to transform traditional culinary assets — drawn from historic North Gyeongsang cookbooks including "Suunjapbang" and "Eumsik Dimibang" — into intellectual property, and to build a distinctive "North Gyeongsang K-Gourmet Belt" linked to wellness food tourism, creating synergies among the food, tourism and culture industries.

"If AI and semiconductors were the defining industries of the fourth industrial era, food will be the dominant force in the fifth industrial era — one centered on eating, leisure and enjoyment," Gov. Lee said. "We will spare no effort to ensure that world-class K-food companies emerge from North Gyeongsang Province."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com