Participants pose for a photo at a scholarship ceremony for Vietnamese university students. [Hite Jinro]
Participants pose for a photo at a scholarship ceremony for Vietnamese university students. [Hite Jinro]

Hite Jinro announced Thursday that it presented scholarships to 20 students from Hanoi University and Hanoi University of Foreign Studies at a ceremony held at Hanoi University in Vietnam. CEO Jang In-seop attended alongside representatives from both universities and the scholarship recipients. Each student received 20 million dong, bringing the total disbursement to 400 million dong — about 22 million won ($15,500).

The Vietnam scholarship program is a global corporate social responsibility initiative Hite Jinro launched in 2017, and this year marks its seventh edition. Since its inception, the company has awarded a cumulative 2.4 billion dong (about 130 million won) to 130 local university students.

"Vietnam is the first country to which Hite Jinro exported soju and remains a key market where we will build the next 100 years together," Jang said. "Just as the bonds formed through this scholarship program have borne fruit with recipients joining Hite Jinro as employees, we will continue to support the dreams and ambitions of the talented individuals who will lead Vietnam's future."

Vietnam is a strategic market for Hite Jinro, which established its first overseas subsidiary in Southeast Asia there in 2016 and declared a "Jinro popularization" drive in 2024, the company's 100th anniversary year. Exports of its Jinro brand have more than tripled compared with 2016 levels.


andy@heraldcorp.com