Making soybean paste and sauce is an important job for the Korean nation to prepare the side dish for the year like kimchi for the winter which is called half-yearly food.

Grandma Kim Ok Nyo, 82, told KCNA that she makes soybean paste and sauce at her home every year, adding: From olden times, Korean women used to make balls with boiled soybean for making soybean paste and sauce in November, the beginning of winter. After a few months they crumbled and exposed them to the sun and then put them into a jar with salt water. Though there are some differences according to areas, it is the common usage to make the soybean paste and sauce in lunar February.

As seen above, the period of making soybean paste and sauce at home is long and its method and process are complex. It also consumes much labor.

However, the Korean women are proud of such fermented food as soybean paste, the most favorite one on the sumptuous feast table. They regard it as an important thing to preserve the national character to make soybean paste and sauce by the folk method and show all their sincerity to flavor them.

As I grow older, out of the sense of duty that I should hand over as many inherent national customs as possible to the posterity, I used to teach my children how to make national dishes when making soybean paste and sauce and preparing kimchi for the winter.

Today when the folk customs are blooming fuller as the days go by, the custom of making the fragrant and sapid soybean paste and sauce is encouraged positively in the DPRK.