Preventing Foreign Kimchi from Being Passed Off as Domestic... National-Level Geographical Indication Implemented

Government "Plans to Expand Protection List of Geographical Indications of Partner Countries through Future FTAs"

An image related to kimchi posted by the cyber diplomatic mission VANK on the global petition site Change.org. On January 11, VANK requested the relevant government departments to correct the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Directive No. 427, which translated kimchi as the Chinese food "paochai" (泡菜). (Image source=Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government has established a national-level geographical indication management system to prevent foreign-made kimchi from being labeled as 'Korean Kimchi' in the future.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that a new enforcement decree of the Agricultural and Fishery Products Quality Control Act, which includes adding the national (nationwide) area to the geographical indication target regions for kimchi, came into effect on the 28th. Previously, geographical indications for kimchi could only be registered for specific areas such as administrative districts, mountains, or rivers, but now the nation has been added.

The ministry explained, "With this revision, by expanding the list of protected geographical indications to partner countries through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), cases of foreign-made kimchi being labeled as 'Korean Kimchi' overseas will be prevented."

The new enforcement decree also includes transferring the authority for announcing Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards from the Rural Development Administration to the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service.

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