'Kimchi Master' No.1 Faces Trial for Making Kimchi with Rotten Napa Cabbage and Radish

Investigation Launched in February Last Year Following Whistleblower Report
Hansung Foods Produced 400,000kg of Kimchi Using Substandard Ingredients
CEO Kim Sunja Returned Master Craftsman Qualification in March Last Year

Kim Soon-ja, the first "Kimchi Master" of South Korea and CEO of Hansung Food Co., Ltd. (Hansung Kimchi), has been brought to trial on charges of producing and selling kimchi made from spoiled cabbage and other substandard ingredients.

On the 31st, the Food and Drug Division of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Hye-young) indicted CEO Kim Soon-ja, Vice President A of Hansung Food's subsidiary Hyowon, and six other company officials on the 27th for violating the Food Sanitation Act, according to a report by News1.

Kim Sun-ja, CEO of Hansung Foods, presenting kimchi to Japanese people at the '2009 Kimchi Festival' held in Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan in 2009.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

They are accused of manufacturing and selling approximately 240,000 kg of kimchi using defective ingredients such as discolored cabbage and moldy radish from 2019 until February of last year.

According to the prosecution, they conspired to produce kimchi that could harm health using rotten cabbage and radish between May 2019 and February 2022.

The case came to light in February last year following a report by a public whistleblower to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. After an investigation by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the case was transferred to the prosecution. In September last year, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety applied for an arrest warrant for Vice President A of Hansung Food, which the prosecution requested but was dismissed.

On October 17 of the same year, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety transferred the case to the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office. The prosecution requested an arrest warrant for Ms. Kim on December 30 last year and re-applied for one for Vice President A, but the court dismissed both requests, citing the need to guarantee the right to defense and the absence of concerns about evidence tampering or flight risk.

During the investigation, the prosecution reanalyzed digital evidence, including forensic results from mobile phones, and uncovered that CEO Kim was the actual mastermind behind Vice President A, who was identified as the main culprit by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Meanwhile, as the controversy grew, CEO Kim returned her qualifications as a Food Master and Master Artisan in March last year. She was designated as a "Food Master" by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (then the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) in 2007 and as a "Master Artisan of South Korea" by the Ministry of Labor in 2012.

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