I am highly honored to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to the 7th Seoul International 

Food Forum. I heartily extend my gratitude towards Lee Myeong Su, Chairman of Health and 

Welfare Committee of the National Assembly, Lee Gae Ho, Minister of Agriculture, Food and 

Rural Affairs, James Choi, Australian Ambassador to Korea, Frode Solberg, Norwegian 

Ambassador to Korea, and Choi Seong-Rak, Deputy Head of Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, 

who are present here despite their busy schedules.

The global food industry, in common with high-tech industry, is in a time of upheaval. A change 

in our diets is being accelerated by a structural change in society due to a prolonged average 

life span and an increase in an aged population and one-person households, etc. 

and by a change in work and home environments due to an increase in dual-earner families 

and the 52-hour maximum work-week system’s extension, etc.

Together with such changes in living environments, various types of home meal replacements 

(HMR) are filling our tables. As a home mean replacement that is already fully prepared can be 

consumed immediately by simply heating, it is gaining tremendous popularity with busy modern 

people.

HMR has a rich culinary diversity on the menu, ranging from soups, fried rice, Bibimbap with 

edible wild greens to Galbijjim (Braised short ribs). According to the food industry, HMR market 

has grown nearly 20% annually from 900 billion won in 2010, thereby estimated to be 4 trillion 

won this year. 

In the food industry, another field, just like HMR, is marking high growth rate: Pet Food. In Korea, 

the population with pets has surpassed ten million and the pet food market is also adding up to 

a billion dollars.

The Financial News, with such trend reflected, has decided the topic of the Seoul International 

Food Forum this year as “Future Foods Change My Life”. Moreover, we have prepared an 

opportunity to think through the present and future of the pet food industry as a special session. 

I hope food companies and consumers in Korea find this forum highly fruitful and beneficial for 

the future our food industry. I wish all of speakers and participants here well.

Thank you. 

​Kim, Joo Hyun

President & CEO,

The Financial News​