The Controversy of Name – Kimchi, Kimuchi and Paocai
The inspiration of this research project came from a controversial issue surrounding the Chinese name of Kimchi. In November 2013, the Korean government announced a newly invented, official Chinese name of Kimchi – Xinqi 辛奇. Originally, Kimchi is widely known as Paocai 泡菜, or Korean Paocai 韓國泡菜 in Chinese language, literally means fermented vegetable. However, the Korean government regards the name Paocai would cause confusion with Chinese fermented dishes thus the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair of the Republic of Korea announced Xinqi to be the new trademark of Kimchi in Chinese speaking regions, which is claimed to be the transliteration of "Kimchi" in Mandarin (Seoul Sinmun 01 Jun. 2014; Chosun Ilbo 08 Nov. 2013).
(This is the bus advertisement promoting the new name of Kimchi. Spotted on the road of Hong Kong )
As Kimchi made and sold in Japan is also usually slightly modified to suit the Japanese taste (less spicy), together with the different pronunciation, the Korean government as well as the media have long been sensitive to the “Japanese version” of Kimchi, lamenting that the former colonizer was stealing their food culture and made Korea a colony once again (Kyung-Koo Han 162). As a result, the Korean government made an application to the Codex Alimentarious Commission (CAC) in 2001, an organization under the umbrella of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, whose major responsibility is to establish and better the international standard of food items. Through the Commission, the Korean government urged for a unified definition of Kimchi by announcing the Korean one to be the only authentic one. The Commission’s decision was in favour of the Korean government’s request thus the Korean media were overjoyed to proclaim the victory of authentic Kimchi over the imitators, as Korea is now internationally recognised to be the “종주국” (the ruling country) of Kimchi (Yonhap News 06 Jul 2001). Afterwards, the Korean media’s sensitivity over the political correctness of Kimchi kept growing. For example, when Korean actor Chŏng u-sŏng and girl band KARA wrote and pronounced Kimchi to be Kimuchi in Japanese television shows in 2009 and 2010 respectively, they were criticised and urged to apologize by the Korean media (The Kukmin Daily 02 Dec. 2010; Hankooki 11 Aug. 2009). These examples proved that, how Kimchi is called in foreign languages, is an issue that can easily be escalated by the media and public discourse, into a concern of national dignity and Korea’s ownership over this cultural item.
The debate over the name of Kimchi in foreign languages, in fact, is not a new issue. Before the modification of the Chinese name, the Japanese name of Kimchi has also seized the spotlight. In Japan, Kimchi is commonly written as Kimuchiキムチ. The main reason is that Japanese script does not have final consonant and thus unable to pronounce the sound “Kim” like Korean.
Pronouncing a word in Japanese way within a Japanese conversation in a Japanese TV programme, in fact, sounds very natural. Nevertheless, the Korean media can easily escalated it to be a concern of national dignity. These examples proved that how Kimchi and other Korean food is called in foreign language is an issue closely linked to Korea's cultural nationalism, as only the "correct" prononciation can display Korea's ownership of that cultural item.
Afterwards, the Korean media’s sensitivity over the political correctness of Kimchi kept growing. For example, when Korean actor Chŏng u-sŏng as well as girl idol group KARA wrote and pronounced Kimchi to be Kimuchi in Japanese television shows in 2009 and 2010 respectively, they were criticised and urged to apologize by the Korean media (The Kukmin Daily 02 Dec. 2010; Hankooki 11 Aug. 2009).