Squid dishes over Squid Game: Korea's loved seafood is coming back to East Sea

Koreans love for squid is evident in that, one, there's a game named after it and two, there are loads of different dishes made with squid.

Stir-fried, steamed, and even served raw it's one of Korea's most sought-after seafoods.

But for the past few years, it's been hard to get a hold of.

This year, there's been full tanks on a daily basis.

Our Kim Do-yeon went to see the freshest catch.

Many will know that Squid Game season 3 is coming this week, but what many might not know yet, is that squid has also made a comeback this year.

And it's here at Jumunjin Port where it's the most evident.

With the break of dawn arriving are boats that spent over night in the waters catching one of Korea's most beloved seafoods.

And with their arrival begins not a Squid Game of survival but a real game of livelihood survival.

"RING RING RING"

It's the daily auction for live squid as retailers and restaurant owners compete for their supply.

The process is simple: they write down their offers after hearing the catch volume.

Each lot is sold in bundles of 20.

And soon, the winners are called.

"Number 15, 14 boxes for 59,000 each. Number 31, 13 boxes for 58,200"

The system isn't new — but what is new this year is the squid.

After five years of declining catch volumes, things have turned around —

especially since June, when the permitted fishing season began.

As of mid-June, Gangwon-do Province had caught 875 tons of squid — a 276 percent increase from the same period last year, and well above the three-year average.

That translates to over 81.8 billion won in squid sold so far this year or about 60.5 million U.S. dollars compared to 74.3 billion last year, despite last year having only a third of this year's catch.

One bidder explains the price shift:

"I won my batch with around 60,000 won bid today. This is about a third of last year's price."

The price they're sold daily at ports like this one will be reflected for regular consumers.

"Once the auction wraps up, the live squid are distributed quickly for the winning bidders each placed into the fish tank for shipment across the country."

Increased volume means much more than just to the ones in the squid business.

"With squid coming in after years of scarcity, it's good for everyone — not just sellers, but also the people who sell ice, boxes everyone makes a living off this."

Meanwhile, the city of Gangneung has a specialty as it's the core of squid fishing.

Raw squid dishes, especially squid moolhwe a cold spicy soup dish is a specialty.

"When we didn't have any squid, we had to give up on them and use flounder instead. But, with the increased supply, customers are now looking for squid moolhwe this year."

While Squid Game comes back with an anticipation to top the streaming charts squid dishes are already back and topping tables.

Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News, Gangneung.