Brands offer patriotic ways to write, dress, drink

Monami’s patriotic pens, right, and Top10’s 1945 cap released ahead of Korea’s Liberation Day. [11ST, TOP10]

Retailers are taking advantage of a recent wave of patriotism to increase sales ahead of Korea’s Liberation Day on Aug. 15.

As anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea grows following Tokyo’s restrictions on exports to Korea, retailers and brands have started promoting patriotic products.

Online shopping mall 11st started selling Monami pens released in time for Liberation Day. Sold as a limited edition, the pens feature an image of the Taegeuk symbol found on the Korean flag.

A total of 35,000 pen sets starting at the price of 6,000 won ($5.40) were on sale through 11st and on Monami’s own website. All the pens on 11st sold out.

Starting Sunday, 11st will start selling Monami pens that feature the rose of Sharon, Korea’s national flower.

“With the recent increase in interest in domestic brands along with the celebration of Liberation Day in August, we expect the attention on [Monami pens] to increase,” said a spokesperson for 11st.

Local brand Topten, which is seen as a Korean alternative to Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo, has also introduced clothes that feature the profiles of legendary independence activists like Yu Gwan-sun and Kim Gu.

A shirt with a poem written by Yun Dong-ju, a renowned Korean poet active during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial era, written on the back is also on sale. A cap with the date 1945, the year when Korea gained independence from Japan, emblazoned on it is also available.

In collaboration with Oriental Brewery, Homeplus unveiled 12-packs of Cass beer in boxes decorated with the four black trigrams from the Korean flag, collectively called geongongamri in Korean, to encourage sales of domestic beers.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]