Chilkab Nongsan (CEO: Lee Young-ju) announced on the 14th that Founder Lee Neung-gu will appear on an EBS program airing next Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. In the episode, Lee is expected to share his story candidly—from moving to Seoul to seek treatment for his sick child to his journey of becoming an entrepreneur who helped build Korea’s rice-processed food industry.

As noted in his autobiography, Lee began in the 1970s selling rice cakes he carried by bicycle across the Hangang Bridge. Seeing the potential of the food industry, he steadily forged his own path. He went on to introduce a series of innovations that expanded Korea’s rice-based processed food market, including a liquor-soaking method that supported the wider adoption of rice-processed foods, the development of the first rice noodles to help address government rice stockpile issues, and a solar natural-drying process that dries noodles slowly in sunlight rather than using artificial heat.

He has received multiple honors for his contributions to the popularization of rice-processed foods and quality innovation, including the Order of Civil Merit (Seokryu Medal), the Order of Industrial Service Merit (Stone Tower Medal), and a commendation from the Commissioner of the National Tax Service.

The broadcast will also cover the background behind his technological developments, his management philosophy—“If farmers survive, the nation survives”—his research process marked by dozens of failures in pursuit of high-quality noodles, and behind-the-scenes stories of how today’s Chilkab Nongsan came to be.

A Chilkab Nongsan representative said, “We hope this broadcast will give many viewers an opportunity to learn about Founder Lee Neung-gu’s honest life story, his spirit of challenge, and his unwavering philosophy about the food we eat.”​