How do you do.
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The sea grows the gim — Korean laver seaweed. Twice a day, the tide comes in and goes out and washes it. Every day, over six hours of sunlight make it grow. All the while, I do nothing.
His card says ‘lazy fisherman’ — by his own account (“Gim Concert, Part 1,” 2026). And yes, his business card really is gim: rock laver he grew himself, his name set in gold leaf, handed to everyone he meets for the first time (Daejeon MBC “Oneul M,” 2024).
World first
Certified by whom? By himself. So we drew up the certificate.
※ Objections may be lodged via Instagram DM.
No. 001
NameKim Jang-su · Taean, South Chungcheong · Fisherman
The above-named hereby certifies, on his own authority, that he is the world’s first in the following fields.
Certified by: himself · Judges: ~1,000 seagulls · Issued at: the Taean tidal flat
AI illustrationNo. 001
Grown by the world’s first Gim Concert planner. To this man, a single sheet of gim is a show, a business card and an heirloom.
The name
His grandfather chose it. Say it in Korean — gim jangsu — and it means ‘gim seller.’ He grew up to be exactly that. Yet he insists he doesn’t sell gim. He sells the story of gim.
The Hebei Spirit oil spill. Taean’s sea turns black.
He works for the oil-spill damage committee and the Hebei Social Cooperative, watching the sea recover up close. What he saw was the power of the tidal flat.
Squid and blue crab aside, Taean had no signature product of its own. That nagged at him. So he dug into gim.
He starts growing gim in his home waters. Fisherman, year one.
The sea once smothered in oil now washes his gim.
“I didn’t want it to stop at just making gim and selling it. I wanted to have a go at the stories of gim, the content, the old ways — things like that.”
Sources: Eomin Shinmun (May 17, 2024); Planet Literacy interview (Aug 20, 2024)
Who does the work
People assume a fisherman heads out at dawn and works up a sweat. Not on this farm. The sea does most of the work.
| Task | The sea | Kim Jang-su |
|---|---|---|
| Disinfection | The tide, in and out, twice a day | — |
| Photosynthesis | Sunlight, 6+ hours a dayAt low tide, the gim comes up out of the water | — |
| Disease-control chemicals | None. Plenty of sun instead | — |
| Cleaning the flat | The tidal flat, and the water that washes over it twice a day | — |
| Net repairs | Waves tear them | HIS JOBPatches them when they burst |
| Seagull breakfast | — | HIS JOBCrabs and fry turn up in his power tiller’s wheel ruts |
| Talking gim | — | HIS JOBWorld’s first Gim Concert. Three hours isn’t enough |
The sea 5Kim Jang-su 3Of which, growing gim: 0
“I don’t disinfect anything artificially. It just happens naturally, with the tide coming in and going out. Me, I don’t do a thing.”
— Kim Jang-su, “Gim Concert, Part 1” (2026)Pole-net farming
AI illustrationThe nets float in the water at all times. By Kim Jang-su’s count, more than 90% of Korea’s gim farms work this way.
Poles are driven into the tidal flat and nets hung between them. At low tide the gim comes out of the water and sees the sun — for more than six hours a day.
He stretches the exposure time beyond traditional pole-net farming, so the gim photosynthesizes longer. Which is why he goes around saying, with total confidence, that it’s “the healthiest gim.”— Daejeon MBC “Oneul M” (2024)
And right now he’s also cutting bamboo to grow gim the way it was done 100 years ago, with a 70-year-old gim frame he found in Taean close at hand. — KBS Daejeon (Sep 2026) · “Gim Concert, Part 1”
Rule one of good gim
As Kim Jang-su explains it, the first thing a grader looks at is color: black, and glossy. His gim fails right there. Gim that spends six hours a day in the sun turns reddish-black. And since he doesn’t strip what clings to the surface with chemicals, it shines less.
It isn’t crisp, either. It’s soft. If you like your gim crunchy, it may not be for you — he tells buyers so up front.
“Instead of black, shiny gim, what I got was reddish-black gim. Honestly, that’s all this Gim Concert is. I started the gim tours to … let people know this kind of gim exists too.”
— Kim Jang-su, “Gim Concert, Part 1” (2026)What he got instead of shine. Managed from seed to shipment, certified anew every year. — Kim Jang-su’s account (“Gim Concert, Part 1”; Daejeon MBC “Oneul M”)
World’s first Gim Concert planner
Singers hold concerts to promote their songs. This fisherman holds them to promote gim. He picks gim on the tidal flat, lays sheets by hand, brushes them with camellia oil and toasts them on the spot.
As reported by Eomin Shinmun (May 2024) and Planet Literacy (Aug 2024). Seagulls not included.
“Taean Kimjangsu’s Gim Concert, Part 1” — Taean Kimjangsu TV (in Korean)
In his words
Translated from Korean. Instagram posts keep his own loose style; video quotes are transcribed as heard, minus the filler.
“I’m no PhD … working from data isn’t my field. Empathy — that’s the heart of my gim.”
“Truth is, I hate cooperatives. … So I don’t co-operate. I do things together.”
“There are things you have to do alone, and things you can’t do alone.”
“Truth is, I don’t really check my email. But just in case.”
“So all this time I’ve been on seagull-breakfast duty~~”
“My Gim Concert isn’t really about gim. Everything I do with gim … to someone else, it might be a message of hope.”
A fisherman’s menu
Come winter, chefs go looking for his fresh raw gim. What he picks and packs goes to Seoul (Daejeon MBC “Oneul M,” 2024). Here, set as a menu, is what he has actually done with it.
AI illustrationTorn from the net in the middle of the tidal flat, rinsed in seawater. A first-timer: “Ah, so this is raw gim.”
“Gim Concert, Part 1,” 2026Fresh-picked gim, finely chopped, laid into a frame by hand one sheet at a time, like hanji paper.
“Gim Concert, Part 1,” 2026Brushed with oil pressed from Taean camellias, salted with Taean jayeom, seared over high flame on the flat. “Whoa. Insane.”
“Gim Concert, Part 1,” 2026A sheet of toasted gim, white rice, and oysters picked right beside the farm.
“Gim Concert, Part 1,” 2026Named by the man himself: “Korea’s first organic gopchang dol-gim pot rice.”
Taean Kimjangsu TV, 2023From March 21, he fed his own gim to his hens. Egg day: five months out. “There’s no egg like this.”
“Gim Talk,” 2024At Jungsik, with Gimbap Captain. The caption: “The world’s best gimbap.”
Instagram, Jul 2024For sushi chef Hiro’s fiftieth birthday, a cake made of gim.
Taean Kimjangsu TV, Feb 2024Coffee brewed on a power tiller out on the tidal flat, with Fillout. “It started out clumsy, but with one clam and one cup of coffee, we saw something”
Instagram, Oct 2026#togetherative · Kim Jang-su, salesman
He introduces people before he introduces gim: the people he has made things with, the brands he has made things with. Whatever brand he meets, he appoints himself its salesman. He hates cooperatives. “So many are cooperatives in name only, with no real cooperating.” So he does things together.
Coffee · Filling up on local flavor
Done togetherA Coffee Tiller pop-up on the tidal flat
Instagram, Oct 2026 ↗Beer
Done togetherThe can at the pork-belly party under the pines, on Taean tour day
Instagram, Oct 2026 ↗Gimbap curator
Done togetherFrom “the world’s best gimbap” at Jungsik to a Gim Concert on the World Bank stage
Instagram, Jul 2024 · May 2025 ↗Restaurant · Chef Yim Jung-sik
Done togetherThree hours with Gimbap Captain, nothing but gim talk
Instagram, Jul 2024 ↗Cooking creators
Done togetherPicking gim on the flat, laying sheets by hand, toasting — Gim Concert, Parts 1 & 2
Taean Kimjangsu TV, 2026 ↗Traditional Taean sea salt
Done togetherThe salt on the tidal-flat toasted gim, and the star of Gim Concert, Part 2
Taean Kimjangsu TV, 2026 ↗Taean-grown finger limes
Done togetherA stop on the Taean tour, introducing finger limes
Taean Kimjangsu TV Shorts ↗Fish cakes
Done togetherGIM TALK
Taean Kimjangsu TV Shorts ↗A chef’s pantry
Done togetherShipping gim
Taean Kimjangsu TV Shorts, Jul 2025 ↗Video production
Done togetherThe team that made the Gim Concert videos with him
Taean Kimjangsu TV, 2026 ↗Approx. 1,000 seagulls (always on standby)
The brands he’s currently selling for. Sources: his Instagram and YouTube.
Exchange cards
Kim Jang-su’s business card is gim. Leave your details and he’ll reply himself — and tell you then whether gim can be sent to where you live.
There’s no ‘Buy’ button on this page. All you can do is exchange cards.