The South Korean government is pushing to promote dried seaweed at a Chinese beer festival as part of its efforts to export the indigenous seafood snack overseas, the maritime ministry said Monday.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said it is discussing with local beer manufacturers to provide the dried seaweed snack, known as "gim" in Korean, to the Qingdao International Beer Festival next month. 

The ministry aims to promote the dried seafood snack as going well with beer on the back of increasing popularity of the snack overseas.

The overseas shipments of the snack have steadily increased over the past years on rising interest in healthier alternative snacks. They are becoming more popular in China and Southeast Asian nations thanks to the popularity of Korean pop culture.

The export of the dried seaweed came to $180 million in the first six months of this year, a 23 percent jump from a year earlier. (Yonhap)