For the World Cup fan visiting South Korea for the first time, the assault on the senses is all the more remarkable because the never forgotten sights, sounds and smells waft through a first world nation that bows to no-one in cutting edge technology, products and business.

The two most high-profile, and for many foreigners, the very symbols of Korea, are kimchi and ginseng.

KIMCHI

If there is one taste, smell, sight that defines Korea for most foreigners it is kimchi. Some love it. Some hate it. Some tolerate it.

But if you are going to have a Korean meal you are going to have kimchi. You don't even order it. It's just .. well, there.

Basically it is a side dish of pickled vegetables, mainly cabbage or radish or cucumber. The secret is in the pickling.

While every family has their own "secret" kimchi recipe, ingredients always include fiery red pepper powder, garlic -- lots of both -- green onions and salt. Then add pickled shrimps or fish.

In olden times, the mixture was buried in an earthenware pot in the ground in brine to be dug up, sometimes months later. Sometimes after a whole winter had gone by.

But in the 21st century era of apartment dwellers, you now use a special kimchi refrigerator.

The name kimchi derives from an old Korean word that meant simply salted vegetables.

For most foreigners, the fiery red pepper taste is what makes the dish memorable.

But according to Seoul's official Kimchi Museum, red pepper powder, in the long history of kimchi, is a relatively new ingredient only being introduced in the 18th century.

GINSENG

Trailing only kimchi in the symbols of Korea stakes, is the cure-all root ginseng. Like the pickled vegetable, ginseng has also made its way overseas as a popular herbal-type tea.

Proponents of its benefits say it boosts physical strength, helps blood circulation, stabilises the nerves, heals respiratory diseases, regulates the digestive system and provides immunity against a host illnesses.

It also has a pleasant soothing taste.

Ginseng has been a Korean peninsula cure-all since at least 57 B.C. and historical records show the Chinese coveted the Korean root even 200 years earlier when the first Qin Emperor sent explorers to Korea to search for a miraculous herb which could stop humans from growing old.

The root is not indigenous to Korea and its 22 different varieties can be found growing in Manchuria, Russia, Canada and the United States.

But the most prized is Korea's wild ginseng which grows on secluded high mountain slopes where the wild perennial plant sprouts buds in springs and loses its leaves in autumn.

The wild red ginseng roots, which can be more than 100 years old, fetch astronomical prices which make truffles look cheap.

Last year, a 51 centimetre (20-inch) long , 26 gram (0.9 ounce) root was sold for $81,000.

The most popular use is as a herbal-type tea but it is also sold as a pill and a powder.