How do I bring back gifts and souvenirs from Korea for my family and friends?

For uniquely Korean gifts that are good quality and reasonably priced, a few categories stand out. Korean beauty products like sheet masks, skincare, and cosmetics are hugely popular and easy to pack, and Olive Young stores are everywhere with frequent sales. For food gifts, gim (seasoned dried seaweed), traditional sweets (hangwa), honey citron or yuja tea, Korean snacks, and good instant coffee travel well. Traditional craft items like celadon or pottery, lacquerware, bookmarks, hanbok-pattern accessories, norigae, and hanji paper goods make nice keepsakes, and the Insadong area in Seoul is the classic place to browse these. For a tasteful mix of modern and traditional, the National Museum and palace gift shops have well-made souvenirs. Traditional markets like Namdaemun are good for variety and bargaining, while department store food halls are good for nicely packaged gift sets. Ginseng products and a nice soju or makgeolli set are also appreciated. Just check the food and liquid rules for your home country's customs before buying a lot.