Now it’s time to take a close look at a small but competitive business making a difference for the Korean economy. This is the second installment of special coverage of companies that made a mark at the Korean International Fishing Show. Today’s spotlight is on HDF, a maker of various fishing equipment that helped expand the paradigm of the fishing industry. Here’s the company’s chief sales developer, Park Hyun-soo.

HDF is a fishing tackle maker founded in 1982. As of March 2017, we manufacture some 5,500 different products. Our company makes the largest number of different fishing tackles in Korea. That’s why we’re known as the country’s signature fishing brand.

HDF started out as Yeon-mi Leports (연미레포츠) in 1982. Its name was changed to the current HDF in 1994 when it released the “Rock Fishing Shoes”, a type of safety equipment that prevents people from slipping on rocks when rock fishing. That’s also when the company started specializing in fishing equipment. In 1998, HDF became the first in the fishing industry to launch an online shopping mall. The company with the largest number of fishing items in the country placed a cooler under the spotlight at this year’s International Fishing Show.

We’re promoting our Charisma Ice Box at the Fishing Show. A cooler is a must if you want to keep your catches fresh until you get home. When comparing our coolers to any others, whether they’re made in Korea or overseas, we can confidently say that our products are world class. We could have used Styrofoam as cold insulation material, but instead we use high density polyurethane foam on all six sides. In other words, we use the highest quality cold insulator between the plastic interior and exterior.



Charisma Ice Box developed by HDF is not an ordinary cooler. Reinforced urethane insulator, which is known to be an excellent cold insulator, fills all six sides of the cooler. When a piece of ice one-sixth the size of the cooler’s capacity was placed inside, while the exterior temperature was kept under 30 degrees Celsius, more than half of the ice was still intact after 48 hours. Such cold-insulation capacity is top notch in comparison to that of any other coolers made at home or abroad. In addition, HDF’s Charisma Ice Box is easy to move thanks to its wheels. It’s lid tightly seals the cooler and does not open on its own. Also, a lidded drainage system makes it easy to drain the cooler when necessary. It’s already widely praised by the consumers for its convenience. But the cooler isn’t the only HDF product that was developed with consumers’ convenience in mind.

We launched the sales of “Charisma CIII Limited Reel Rod” in time for the Fishing Show. The new rod’s biggest merit is the flawless, perfect balance. It’s the top quality reel rod with the strongest mid-section. We released a number of different kinds of the product that are each specialized for catching large black porgy, large rudderfish, large red sea bream and mid-sized yellowtail amberjack. When it comes to fishing for large fish, the rod has to be equipped with enough flexibility and tensile force to keep the fish under control. Otherwise, even the slightest flaw can cause the rod to break. So a strong mid-section is a must in a fight with a big fish. But of course everything, including the overall fishing touch, has to be in perfect harmony to complete a reel rod for big fish, and Charisma CIII Limited Reel Rod is just that.

When fishing for big fish, where and how the rod bends and the tension that loosens or pulls the fish are very important aspects. When everything is not in order, the fish can get away, or the rod can break. The reel rod HDF released in time for the International Fishing Show boasts of the power balance of the perfect bend and strong tensile force, making it the best reel rod for catching large fish. In order to develop such fishing equipment, HDF continues to concentrate on progression.



At HDF, we not only have our own research and development team, but we also have about 30 advisors all across the country who specialize in sea fishing. These advisors test all of our products for us in the East Sea, West Sea, South Sea, the waters off Jeju Island, and even in certain overseas regions. So our products are developed through multiple-verifications by experts and professionals. That’s why the big-fish enthusiasts have been waiting for our new product for a long time.

HDF asks for the opinions of the experts across the country when they start to plan for a new product. A new product is made with the gathered intelligence, and released for sale only after it has been tested by the experts. Even though the testing period alone takes over a year, the consumers are that much more satisfied with the product. The superb quality of HDF products is not only recognized at home, but in other parts of the world as well. About 15% of the company’s output is exported to countries like the United States, Australia, China, and Russia, among others. But the company won’t stop there.

Our company has two mottos. One is that “we make anything that a fisherman wants,” and the other is “All fishing tackles should be made in Korea.” Our goal is to make more products that anglers want and need, exclusively from the point of view of another angler. We’ll continue to do our best to make fishing tackles that are made in Korea to be used all around the world.

HDF is leading the industry by continuously releasing new products. With over 5,500 different products under its belt already, expectations are high for the company’s future products.