▲ First lady Kim Hea Kyung (L) buys food at a store in Koreatown in New York on Sept. 23, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

first lady-Koreatown

First lady Kim visits New York's Koreatown

By Kim Eun-jung

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) -- First lady Kim Hea Kyung met with local merchants at Koreatown in New York on Wednesday, highlighting their contributions to promoting Korean food, content and culture, the presidential office said.

Kim's visit to Koreatown in the global cultural hub was part of her cultural diplomacy as she accompanied President Lee Jae Myung during his attendance at the U.N. General Assembly.

One of the shops she visited was a Korean side dish store packed with non-Korean customers -- a sign of the growing popularity of Korean food in the U.S.

The owner of the shop said kimbap, seaweed-wrapped rice rolls, and japchae, a dish of stir-fried noodles and vegetables, are among the most popular items, according to vice presidential spokesperson Jeon Eun-soo.

Kimbap gained more popularity after it appeared in the Netflix animated film "K-Pop Demon Hunters."

"It seems like kimbap is especially popular, in particular after (K-Pop Demon Hunters) featured scenes where (characters) eat uncut kimbap," Kim was quoted as saying.

Kim also visited a shop where she purchased tteokbokki, a spicy street food made with rice cakes.

She later stopped by a bookstore, where she heard that demand for Korean-language books has risen thanks to the global success of "K-Pop Demon Hunters" and Korean novelist Han Kang who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, according to Jeon.

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