[Editorial] 'Gimchi Controversy' Shouldn't Be About Pride

On Tuesday Chinese quarantine authorities have announced an import ban on ten Korean food products, including gimchi, hot pepper paste, and bulgogi seasoning, saying they have been found to contain parasite eggs. The Korean companies they cite, however, strongly protest the move saying they either have not exported to China or insist they use manufacturing procedures that would make it impossible for parasites to survive. The people are truly at a loss, for not knowing whom to believe. Naturally one worries that if things go wrong the issue could spread into trade friction.

The Chinese announcement is an official one, so Korea has no choice but to respect it. However, you still wonder if the move is a retaliatory one in response to Korean government bans on the import of Chinese eel, jjinssal (rice processed by steaming unripe grains), gimchi, and other food products recently discovered to contain harmful materials. The Korean gimchi that the Chinese have banned is expensive and they say is consumed mostly by South Koreans living in China rather than by Chinese. It is just natural that some claim the gimchi was "targeted" with an examination.

What is of the most urgency right now is determining exactly what the facts are. On an official homepage, Chinese officials have only listed the Korean manufacturing companies affected, dates, and brand names. Korea has yet to be informed about the specific details. It is hard to understand how the Chinese say they will formally inform Korea of the decision in writing even when Korea's food health authorities have an official there in China. Not that the uncooperative attitude of the Chinese is all there is to blame, either. Korean officials learned a day in advance that China would announce it had found parasites in Korean food but they spent the whole day figuring out what products and brands were involved. Does it make any sense that cooperation is so bad with Korea's biggest trading nation for agricultural and marine products? Korean officials need to quickly engage in cooperation with the Chinese to ascertain how the rejected products were distributed, the process through which they were collected and inspected, and whether there is any possibility there is confusion with similar products or other problems on the Chinese side. It would benefit neither country to have the situation made worse with trade friction because of a fight fueled by pride when the problem should be resolved through diplomacy and cooperation.

The Hankyoreh, 2 November 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]