Professor Seo Kyung-deok points out Hanjin‘s ‘paocai’ remark in Tours China, saying “It was really wrong”

Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women’s University pointed out Tours member Hanjin‘s ‘paocai’ remark.

Recently, while communicating with fans through the official fan community, when asked about her meal menu, Hanjin wrote in Korean, “I ate kimchi stew”. In the process, she wrote kimchi as ‘paocai(泡菜)’ in Chinese.

Previously, actors Ham So-won and Choo Ja-hyun, as well as GS25 and Netflix, were criticized and apologized for saying or writing kimchi as paocai. In 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism partially revised the ‘Guidelines for Foreign Language Translation and Notation of Public Terms’, specifying the correct Chinese spelling for kimchi as ‘sinchi’(辛奇).

If Han Jin, a Chinese member of Tours, had received relevant training from his agency, he would have known the correct spelling of ‘kimchi’.

Professor Seo Kyung-deok said on SNS on the 5th that he had received numerous reports of Han Jin’s ‘paocai’ remark. He said, “As you all know, Korean kimchi and Chinese ‘paocai’ are completely different foods. In particular, China claims that the origin of kimchi is ‘paocai’, and that it is their culture. In this situation, it was really wrong for Chinese member Han Jin to spell kimchi as ‘paocai’.” He pointed out, “More than anything, since he is a star with great external influence, he should have been more careful and should have known how to understand the cultural sentiments of Koreans.”

Professor Seo Kyung-deok said, “Han Jin‘s comment has been deleted, but I hope that something like this will never happen again. In the past, several celebrities active in Korea and China have caused controversy by writing kimchi as ‘paocai’ in their videos and on social media. “We must now pay more attention to prevent such incidents from occurring that provide China with an excuse,” he said, raising his voice.

Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.