Ottogi said on the 9th that it has launched "Han River Ramyeon," a packaged instant noodle product designed to recreate at home the taste and atmosphere of ramyeon cooked in the vending-machine-style noodle cookers installed at Han River parks — long a must-do experience for both domestic and foreign tourists.
The product was developed with those cookers in mind, with improvements to how well the noodles hold their texture and resist becoming soggy. Chewy noodles are paired with an egg block and cheongyang chili peppers for a spicy, full-bodied broth. The egg block is larger and contains more egg than the company's previous versions.
Ottogi also designed the product with foreign consumers in mind. The package prints the product name in English, Chinese and Japanese as well as Korean so that overseas buyers can identify it easily.
"We developed this so that the fun of cooking Han River ramyeon yourself in a noodle cooker by the river can be enjoyed anywhere in the country," an Ottogi official said.
Americans and Chinese Alike Are Slurping It Up
The Han River has already established itself as a signature setting for foreign tourists seeking a taste of Korean culture. As Netflix dramas and films have repeatedly shown characters eating ramyeon along the river, eating ramyeon at the Han River has become a fixture on itineraries for visitors to Korea.
Against that backdrop, K-ramyeon is growing rapidly worldwide. Riding the K-food boom, exports topped $7 billion in the first half of this year, a record high. The United States alone accounted for $1 billion, with ramyeon leading the growth. By product, ramyeon exports came to $935.4 million in the first half, up 27.9% from a year earlier.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said recently that preliminary K-Food+ exports for the first half of 2026 totaled $7.05 billion, up 4.1% from a year earlier and a record for a first half. K-Food+ covers the broader agricultural industry, including fertilizer and farm machinery, in addition to K-food items such as agricultural products and processed foods.
By destination, the United States posted the largest total at $1.04 billion, up 11.3%. Leading items in the U.S. market included ramyeon at $175.3 million, snacks at $150.1 million and kimchi at $24.6 million. China ranked second with $810 million, up 9.4% from a year earlier. Ramyeon exports to China reached $217.6 million.
