Actor Song Il-kook to Appear in Makgeolli Ad in WSJ

Song Il-kook (right) and Seo Kyoung-duk

Actor Song Il-kook and Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University who specializes in promoting Korean culture, will run an advertisement for makgeolli, or Korean traditional wine, in the Wall Street Journal at the end of this month.

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"[Actress] Lee Young-ae featured in an ad for bibimbab [a traditional Korean dish made of rice and vegetables] in the New York Times, and it has been very well received. As such, I decided to arrange a similar ad with another Korean Wave star", Seo said as he unveiled a poster for the latest promotion.

Song is well known not only in Asia but also in the Middle East and Europe thanks to the popularity of his TV drama "Jumong". "I decided to participate in the project as I thought it would be a good chance to promote Korean food around the world", he said.

The ad was voluntarily funded by netizens. Last year, Song swam to the Dokdo islets with singer Kim Jang-hoon to raise awareness of Korea's sovereignty over the islets over Japan's dubious colonial claim. He has arranged several similar events.