Food & Drink
Korea’s largest kimchi-making charity event at Garak Market Nov. 17
haps Magazine Korea
November 13, 2025
Kimchi-making charity event (Photo courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government)
The nation’s largest kimchi-making charity event will take place at Garak Market, Korea’s premier public wholesale market.
The “Garak Market Kimchi Sharing Festival” will be held on Monday, November 17, at Sky Park, located on the rooftop of Garak Mall, starting at 10 a.m. The event is hosted by the Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation.
Now in its 18th consecutive year, the Garak Market Kimchi Sharing Festival has become a Seoul tradition since it began in 2008.
Each year, market merchants, civic volunteers, children, and foreign participants gather to make and donate 10,000 boxes of kimchi to 10,000 low-income households across the city.
Beyond charity, the event aims to promote the spirit of sharing and community participation among companies and civic groups.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when group gatherings of five or more were banned (2020–2022), the Garak Market community continued its mission by distributing pre-packaged kimchi produced at HACCP-certified facilities ensuring that the annual donation of 10,000 boxes of kimchi never ceased.
The festival is organized by the nonprofit Hope Sharing Market Association, a public foundation established in 2010 to coordinate the market’s social contribution initiatives. As Korea’s largest agro-fishery distribution hub, Garak Market leverages its food industry expertise to conduct impactful and specialized public welfare programs.
The Hope Sharing Market Association originated from the Garak Market Hope Sharing Volunteer Group, which unified various merchant-led charitable efforts that had been independently organized since the market’s opening in 1985.
This year, the association has also led major public initiatives, including raising ₩1.5 billion in disaster relief funds to help restore wildfire-affected regions in the Yeongnam area.
Another flagship program, “Kids, Let’s Eat Fruit,” supplies seasonal fruits to local children’s centers throughout Seoul doubling its budget from the previous year to ₩1.3 billion, further cementing Garak Market’s role as a model for food-based community engagement.