Imsil

Infobox Korean settlement
logo=Imsil logo.gif
hangul=임실군
hanja=任實郡
rr=Imsil-gun
mr=Imshil-gun
area_km2=596.88
pop=37514
popyear=2001
popden_km2=62.9
divs=1 "eup", 11 "myeon"

Imsil County ("Imsil-gun") is a county in North Jeolla Province, South Korea.

Imsil County

Imsil is a county in North Jeolla Province, Republic of Korea, approximately 30 minutes south of Jeonju by car or bus, where purely domestic Korean cheese was first produced. Imsil County encompasses several important towns, mountains, and natural areas.

Imsil Cheese Village

Imsil Cheese Village is located near the town of Imsil (within the county of Imsil). It offers a one day or more vacation program for children and tourists to learn how to ferment cheese.

The cheese is called Imsil cheese, following the county name. A pizza franchise using Imsil cheese has become a widespread business in South Korea since 2004, under the name of Imsil Cheese Pizza. [http://www.imsilpizza.com/ Official Page] Nearby livestock farms produce dairy products required for the manufacture of the cheese.

Imsil cheese is the unusual mission legacy of a Catholic priest from Belgium who took the Korean name of Ji Junghwan. He arrived in the farming village of Imsil, in the mid-1950s, when the economy was still shattered from the Korean war. He started a farmers’ milk cooperative. This cooperative eventually became the Imsil Cheese Factory, which exists today and produces high quality cheese and yogurt for the Korean market.

A group of enterprising cheese manufacturers decided to branch out into making cheese pizza. In time, Ji Junghwan’s Imsil Cheese Pizza became one of the most popular brands, and today it can be found throughout Korea. Pictured on every box is the Belgian missionary priest, probably the only missionary in the world to have left a pizza chain as part of his legacy.

References

External links

* [http://imsil.go.kr/english/ County government home page]
* [http://www.cheesevil.co.kr/ Imsil Cheese Village (kor)]
* [http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/letters/adamsd/adamsd_0703.htm Imsil cheese history]
* [http://www.imsil.go.kr/english/ Imsil gun home page]