The Korea Customs Service said Friday that it decided to recognize a certificate of quality that the Korea Food Research Institute issues for 32 traditional Korean foods, including kimchi and ginseng, as a certificate confirming the country of origin.
 
The certificate of origin confirms that ingredients used in producing exported goods were grown, manufactured or processed in South Korea. The document is essential to get benefits from free trade agreements.
 
Until now, for a certificate of origin to be issued for kimchi, roughly 33 documents were required for each of the ingredients of the popular fermented dish.
 
The customs agency plans to simplify the country-of-origin confirmation for more products.