[Exclusive] K-Alcohol Is Booming, but Yakju Exports Are 'Sluggish'... Just 1/58 of Other Alcoholic Beverages

Yakju exports fall for third straight year... widening gap with other alcoholic beverages
Pasteurized yakju and takju also required to display best-before dates

Buoyed by the popularity of K-culture, opportunities for Korean traditional alcoholic beverages to expand overseas are growing. However, last year, exports of yakju amounted to just one fifty-eighth of exports of other alcoholic beverages. Calls are growing to rationalize current regulations that require sterilized yakju and takju to display a use-by date.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to Kwon Chilseung, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, yakju exports totaled $593,000 in 2025, while exports of other alcoholic beverages reached $34.155 million. Of total alcoholic beverage exports of $356.724 million that year, yakju accounted for 0.1%, other alcoholic beverages for 9.5%, and takju for 4.1%.

Kwon Chilseung, policy committee chair of the Democratic Party of Korea. Yonhap News

Yakju exports declined for three consecutive years, from $821,000 in 2023 to $709,000 in 2024 and $593,000 last year. Exports of other alcoholic beverages during the same period stood at $30.207 million, $27.864 million, and $34.155 million, respectively.

Under current regulations issued by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, takju and yakju must display a use-by date regardless of whether they have been sterilized. Industry representatives say applying the same standards to sterilized products, which have improved shelf stability, could constrain their production and distribution.

In 2010, when labeling requirements for alcoholic beverages fell under the Liquor Tax Act, an exception was made to the requirement that sterilized takju and yakju display a use-by date. However, the exception was not carried over when alcohol labeling requirements were transferred to the framework of the Food Sanitation Act in 2013. As a result, sterilized yakju and takju are still required to display a use-by date.

“On the Lamp,” a Korean traditional alcoholic beverage involving BTS member Jin, used traditional ingredients such as rice, nuruk, and water. However, the addition of vitamin C led to its classification as another type of alcoholic beverage rather than yakju. It is one example of how the current system can classify traditionally made alcoholic beverages differently depending on additives and other factors.

Kwon said, “The global popularity of K-culture has opened up a great opportunity to introduce our traditional alcoholic beverages to the world, but we are the ones holding back their chance to spread more widely around the globe.” He added, “This is a gap in regulatory oversight: the exception for sterilized yakju and takju that existed in the past was not properly carried over during the transfer of oversight to another ministry.” He stressed, “To help our traditional alcoholic beverages become competitive in global markets, we must review unreasonable regulations and rationally improve labeling standards by taking into account shelf stability and whether the products have been sterilized.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.