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European kimchi sauce product draws backlash over kimono, Chinese characters on bottle

Published: 12 Nov. 2025, 16:30 Updated: 12 Nov. 2025, 16:37

A bottle of Kimchi Sauce featuring a woman wearing a Japanese kimono and the Chinese term for pickled vegetables is displayed in a supermarket in Europe in this photo provided by Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshing Women's University. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Kimchi in a kimono? A Spanish brand’s kimchi sauce product showing a woman in Japan's traditional dress and Chinese lettering on the label is drawing backlash in Korea for blurring the identity of the country’s iconic dish.

Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, shared an image of the brand's product on social media on Tuesday.

The product, now sold in Spanish supermarkets, features a smiling woman in a kimono holding a bowl and "pao chai," the Chinese term for pickled vegetables, written below.

Seo said he was alerted to the case by acquaintances and noted that a similar incident recently occurred in Germany, where a major retailer sold kimchi labeled as “Chinese kimchi” and described it online as “Japanese kimchi.”

He said the cases highlight “low awareness of Asian cultures in Europe and the careless commercial appropriation of cultural symbols.”

"Kimchi, which Unesco lists as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is a traditional Korean fermented dish, and the use of foreign imagery or language should not be seen as a simple mistake but as a distortion of culture," Seo said.

He added that as Korean food gains global popularity, “it is essential to protect cultural identity through accurate labeling and design” and that more should be done to promote global recognition of kimchi’s Korean origins and history.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]