"Kimchi of Korea Belongs to the World" Seokyoungdeok Places Kimchi Advertisement in The New York Times

Chinese Political and Legal Affairs Commission: "South Korea Lacks Cultural Confidence... Paranoia"
Popular Chinese YouTuber Sparks Controversy by Making Kimchi as '#ChineseTraditionalFood'

An advertisement titled "Korea's Kimchi, for the World" was published in The New York Times (NYT). Photo by Seokyungdeok, Sungshin Women's University Professor Research Team

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suwan] Amid ongoing controversy over China's 'Kimchi Project,' Korean public relations expert Professor Seokyung Deok of Sungshin Women's University has attracted attention by placing a kimchi advertisement in the New York Times (NYT).

Professor Seo announced on the 19th, "On the 18th, we placed a kimchi advertisement on page 5 of the A section of the New York Times America edition and page 5 of the International New York Times (Europe-Asia edition)."

The advertisement featured the headline "Korea's Kimchi, for the World" along with the message, "The kimjang culture was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. Historically, it has been passed down as Korea's representative food culture for thousands of years."

Additionally, the final phrase emphasized, "Today, it has established itself as a fermented food loved worldwide, and Korean kimchi has become the world's kimchi."

This advertisement was planned to counter China's recent distortion by claiming kimchi as their own food through the 'Kimchi Project.' The ad was produced with the support of an organization and in collaboration with many kimchi experts, advertising professionals, and designers.

Professor Seo said, "Rather than responding to the absurd 'Kimchi Project' one by one, I wanted to succinctly inform the world of accurate kimchi information," adding, "The New York Times advertisement file is also being promoted on social networking services (SNS) such as Instagram and Facebook."

He further explained, "Currently, we are preparing a multilingual video series about the culture and history of kimchi in Korean, English, Chinese, and other languages, and we plan to continuously promote it through global video platforms such as YouTube."

Meanwhile, China's 'Kimchi Project,' which seeks to incorporate Korea's traditional food kimchi into its own culture, has become increasingly blatant.

On the 13th, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, a direct agency of the Chinese Communist Party, posted on its official WeChat account a post disparaging Korea, calling it "a delusion caused by Korea's lack of cultural confidence," sparking controversy.

Earlier, on the 9th, Chinese YouTuber Li Ziqi, who has 14 million subscribers, uploaded a video showing the kimjang process and introduced it as "Chinese food," reigniting the debate over the origin of kimchi between Korea and China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.