Rejects buyer’s request to “remove the Dokdo painting”
A company that gave up exports of 15% of its sales
Announcement of recent success in ‘entering into the United States’
rice snacks for children in Jangseong, Jeollanam-do, announced on the 7th that it recently opened a store in Orange County, near Los Angeles, USA. Since 2021, Orlbareum has been displaying a map of Dokdo and the phrase ‘Dokdo is Korean land’ on the back of its product packaging, and it has maintained its belief despite the crisis of its Japanese sales channel being blocked early this year. The photo shows Orbarum products on display at a local distribution store in the United States. /Photo = Yonhap News”/>
‘Olbareum’, a company that produces rice snacks for children in Jangseong, Jeollanam-do, announced on the 7th that it recently opened a store in Orange County, near Los Angeles, USA. Since 2021, Orlbareum has been displaying a map of Dokdo and the phrase ‘Dokdo is Korean land’ on the back of its product packaging, and it has maintained its belief despite the crisis of its Japanese sales channel being blocked early this year. The photo shows Orlbareum products on display at a local distribution store in the United States. /Photo = Yonhap News It has been reported that a rice cracker company that was blocked from exporting to Japan due to the Dokdo image drawn on product packaging has succeeded in entering the United States.
According to Yonhap News on the 7th, Orbareum, a baby rice snack manufacturer based in Jangseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, recently opened a store in Orange County, near Los Angeles, USA.
It is reported that this export was accomplished through a Korean product wholesaler located in California, USA. The first export volume is worth about 10 million won, but the wholesale store supplies a variety of Korean products, including food and household goods, throughout the United States, so it is expected to be able to export larger quantities in the future.
Orlbareum, which has been producing snacks for children using organic rice from the Jangseong region since 2018, attracted a lot of attention early this year when it became known as ‘Dokdo Rice Snacks.’ At that time, the company that had the opportunity to export to Japan received a request from its business partner to “erase the picture of Dokdo from the packaging in order to close the deal,” but it refused. The proposed export volume amounted to 15% of annual sales.
Since 2021, the company has been displaying an image of the Korean Peninsula with Dokdo and the phrase ‘Dokdo is Korean land’ on the back of product packaging. Kim Jeong-gwang, CEO of Allbarum, said, “We couldn’t sell our pride for the sake of exports.”
Rice crackers produced by Orlbareum / Photo = Capture from Orlbareum website When this story became known, public opinion arose in support of the snacks, calling them ‘Dokdo rice crackers’ in several online communities and social networking services (SNS), centering around Mom Cafe. . At one point, due to a surge in orders, all products were sold out and notices of delayed delivery were posted.
CEO Kim Jeong-gwang said, “Thanks to the interest and support of many people, we have been able to export our rice crackers with Dokdo drawn on them to the United States,” and added, “We will continue to repay you with good news.”
Meanwhile, it was reported that Seonggyeong Foods, a seaweed producer, also refused Japan’s request to remove the map of the Korean Peninsula that included Dokdo from its packaging, resulting in a failure in exports. However, thanks to the global popularity of Korean seaweed, Seongseong Seaweed exports its products to 12 countries around the world, including the United States, China, and Canada.
Seong Jin-woo, Hankyung.com reporter politpeter@hankyung.com
