Global Go Game
Nongshim Corp. plans to hold the first round of the Shin Ramyun Cup World Baduk Championship, which is to begin Sept. 26 at the Baeksansu production plant in Mt. Baekdu as part of its efforts to promote its "Baeksansu" mineral water brand and target the Chinese drinking water market. Baduk is the Korean word for the game known internationally as Go.
An official from the company said, “Many Chinese newspapers and online news media outlets as well as China's state-run China Central Television (CCTV) and Yanbian Television will attend the opening ceremony. It will be a good opportunity to promote Baduk competition and wonderful natural environment of Mt. Baekdu.”
The Nongshim Shin Ramyun Cup World Baduk Championship first started in 1999 in order to promote the Shin Ramyun brand in China with baduk, which is recognized as a popular sport in the nation. Nongshim raised the prize money to 500 million won (US$446,628), the highest level at home and abroad, from the 17th championship.
The Shin Ramyun Cup World Baduk Championship is the only world team championship between countries which is proceeded in the method of successive winning, where each 5 players of Korea, China and Japan participate. This year, four professional 9-dan Go players – Lee Se-dol, Kang Dong-yun, Park Jung-hwan and Kim Ji-seok – and Lee Dong-hoon, a professional 8-dan Go player will participate in the championship. In addition to selected players based on the contest regulations, Lee Se-dol, who has recently sparked a global fever over Go, and is a model of Nongshim Shin Ramyun and Baeksansu, joined the competition as a wild card. The second round of the championship will be held in Busan in the middle of November, while the final will take place in Shanghai in the middle of February next year.
An official from Nongshim said, “Finals, which are held in Shanghai every year, attract a lot of media attraction, including China’s CCTV, Shanghai TV and Renmin Ribao.” About 1 million Chinese Go game fans visited the live broadcast online sites to watch the final of the 17th championship in which Korea’s Lee Se-dol and China’s Ke Jie competed.