[Anchor Lead]
Cheap Chinese-made kimchi, the Korean cabbage dish, is continuously sold disguised as Korean made. Over a thousand cases are uncovered each year. Chinese kimchi is mostly supplied to restaurants and served to consumers who eat it believing it's made in Korea.
[Pkg]
Officials clamping down on country of origin regulations arrive at this barbecue restaurant in Gyeonggido Province. The restaurant owner says they make kimchi with Korean cabbage.
[Soundbite] Restaurant Owner : "(Do you make your own kimchi?) Yes we do at the moment."
However, ten kilogram boxes of Chinese kimchi are stacked in one corner of the kitchen. At another restaurant...
[Soundbite] Restaurant Owner : "(And it's Korean kimchi?) Yes. (Can we see the transaction receipts?)"
When officials try to take a look at their kimchi, the restaurant only then confesses.
[Soundbite] Restaurant Owner : "(Where is this from, the kimchi?) It's Chinese. (This is Chinese right?) Yes."
Labels are forged as "Korean" on well spotted areas while the true Chinese origin is marked on less noticeable labels. Under domestic law, restaurants which make their own kimchi must indicate the country of origin for the cabbage and red pepper powder that went into the kimchi. According to a clampdown of four restaurants which reporters also accompanied, three locations had violated place of origin regulations. The wholesale price of Korean kimchi is as much as three times more expensive than Chinese kimchi. This wide price gap leads to numerous violators to the tune of some 11-hundred establishments each year.
[Soundbite] Yang Seong-mo(Nat'l Agricultural Products Quality Management Service) : "Violators who lie about countries of origin are subject to a maximum 7 year sentence or fines of up to 100 million won."
One company has been caught for selling 97 tons of Chinese kimchi as Korean made worth around 200 million won. Consumer precautions are particularly called for during the winter kimchi-making seas
