Ottogi has delivered food products to Korean War veterans and their bereaved families and carried out volunteer work at Seoul National Cemetery ahead of Chuseok, the Korean autumn harvest holiday.
The food company said on the 23rd that it had given four types of ready meals — old-style samgyetang, a chicken and ginseng soup; a savory nurungji porridge made from scorched rice; Jongno-style dogani-tang, an oxtail and knuckle soup; and red bean porridge — to Korean War veterans, bereaved families and regional veterans affairs offices nationwide.
The products were chosen mainly for how easily elderly veterans can prepare them. Ottogi has now made four rounds of donations since last year, providing about 150,000 packs to veterans and their families.
The company is also running volunteer programs in which its own employees take part. Ottogi and its affiliates have operated an in-house volunteer group called Seoul Hyeonchung Gardeners since June last year, tending the grounds around burial sections at Seoul National Cemetery. Four rounds of volunteer work had been carried out as of the 9th of this month.
In April this year, Ottogi was selected as a new partner company for Seoul National Cemetery. Under the arrangement, it was assigned Section 7, where 863 war dead from the Korean War and service members who died in the line of duty are interred, and has since maintained the site.
Ottogi said it continues to support people who served the country, carrying on the wishes of its late founder and honorary chairman Ham Tai-ho, himself a Korean War veteran.
"We will continue with support that offers practical help to veterans, and through a range of patriotic and veterans' affairs activities involving our employees, we will spread a culture of honoring and respecting those who served the nation," an Ottogi official said.
