A kimchi-making event was held Friday to mark the nation’s fifth Kimchi Day. 

The agriculture ministry held the event at Samcheonggak, a traditional arts and cultural complex in Seoul’s Seongbuk District, with the participation of multicultural families and Jongno District’s women’s society, among others. 

Participants made more than one-thousand kilograms of kimchi and boiled pork and donated the food to the community along with over one-thousand kilograms of rice. 

The ministry said kimchi exports increased three-point-one percent on-year in October to nearly 135 million U.S. dollars, adding that interest in the national dish has surged thanks to the Korean Wave, or Hallyu.

Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung said the kimchi industry is witnessing remarkable growth both at home and abroad, adding that her ministry will actively work to support it in growing further.

Kimchi Day, officially established in South Korea in 2020, is the first commemorative day to celebrate a food product. 

Fifteen regions in four other countries, including the U.S. and Britain, have designated their own Kimchi Days.