▲ Sunhwadong Hot Kimchi / CEO Park Duk-gyu

(PowerKorea) The video that revealed how kimchi is made in China shocked Koreans: a naked man soaking his lower body in a yellowish water pool of kimchi while another man walking on cabbages with shoes on and the rusty forklift raking them up. Another video also shows how powdered red pepper is made in China on which rats were swarming. Those who watched these videos will likely not to eat kimchi made in China ever again in the rest of their lives. 

Kimchi is made by around 100 manufacturers in and around Shandong Province, China. The reason why we eat made in China kimchi is because it is 5 to 7 times cheaper than making in South Korea where kimchi is a staple. 99.9% kimchi and powdered red pepper used in South Korea is imported from China and 90% kimchi used in Korean restaurants are also from China. Around 270,000 tons of kimchi comes from China every year and the amount recently has increased by 26.8% according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Around 1,100 kimchi importers and distributors in South Korea have been recently caught for switching made in China kimchi with made in Korea. 

The aftermath of these shocking videos is affecting badly to the kimchi industry in South Korea as people feel sick even watching kimchi itself despite some kimchi are authentically made in Korea. Korean’s distrust not only confines to kimchi alone but any food made in China and imported. South Korean government said that the kimchi in the video images are less likely to be imported to Korea but the lead and parasitic eggs found in made in China kimchi imported in 2005 tells differently. 

Sunhwadong Hot Kimchi set to wow Kimchi lovers worldwide with authentically made in Korea spicy edge

Sunhwadong Hot Kimchi is a South Korean kimchi maker based in Sunhwadong, Jung District, Daejeon, South Korea. It uses all Korean grown cabbage and chili pepper powder that are marked with HACCP. From pickling and making to packing and delivery, all processes follow strict health and hygiene rules.  

CEO Park Duk-gyu is the owner of Sunhwadong Ox Head Hangover Soup restaurant. He has run it with his wife Kim Jeong-min and dinners who visited the restaurant to have the soup were more surprised by the uniquely hot taste of kimchi that came as a side dish. More and more dinners asked whether they could buy the kimchi after the meal and Park and Kim decided to start a kimchi business alongside the restaurant; and thus born was Sunhwadong Hot Kimchi.

The kimchi actually is made by Kim’s mother. She uses no artificial flavor enhancers but naturally home grown ingredients with just mere amount of Vietnamese pepper to give a strong and neat spicy edge which is the very point to wow the kimchi eaters; it lasts 3 seconds and disappear in the mouth.

Kim buys cabbages and green onion at an early morning market every day. All ingredients bought on the day are used only for the day. In other words, Kim makes kimchi for the amount of order on the day and delivered directly from the factory to the orderer; it is ‘day made and day delivered system’.

“The secret of Sunhwadong Hot Kimchi is honesty. Using home grown ingredients, strictly following health and hygiene rules, and excellent delivery and customer services are all built based on this honesty principle. We will keep this principle as long as our business lasts” says Kim.

Thanks to this honesty principle and excellent taste, the sales jumped to 4 billion won (3.5 million USD) in 2020 from 100 million won in the first year of launching the business. Sunhwadong Hot Kimchi received Micro Enterprise Awards, Master’s Awards, and Consumer Satisfaction Award, and obtained certificates of Women Enterprise, and Venture Enterprise.

Park and Kim have been helping people in need by donating kimchi on a regular basis for the last 20 years. In 2019 and 2020, they donated kimchi ingredients that can feed 500 households for two years in a row. In recognition, Daejeon Jung District mayor Park Yong-gap encouraged them with a citation for proactive social contribution. 

Park and Kim are ambitious to pioneer overseas market to spread authentic and hygienic made in Korea kimchi to the world. They are working on opening an office in the US, Japan and HongKong and gradually to add more. 

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