"Scared South Korea Will Steal Malatang"... Chinese Netizens' Bizarre Claim

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Recently, China Central Television (CCTV) reported that the popularity of Malatang is increasing in Korea. The photo shows a CCTV reporter holding and introducing a Malatang meal kit product. Photo by CCTV News video capture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] As news spreads that Malatang is gaining great popularity in Korea, some Chinese netizens are making unreasonable claims suggesting that "Korea is trying to steal even Malatang."

Recently, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on the popularity of Malatang in Korea, stating that "female middle and high school students in Korea spend more money at Malaxiangguo and hot pot specialty restaurants (7%) than on Tteokbokki (5%)." This is based on an analysis of debit card sales data of middle school, high school, and university students over the past four years by KB Kookmin Card.

A CCTV reporter visited a Malatang restaurant in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and said, "As hot and humid weather continues in Korea, Malatang is selling well as a 'fight heat with heat' menu," adding, "Koreans enjoy eating hot Malatang while feeling the cool air from air conditioners." The report also introduced that Malatang meal kit products are being released one after another, riding on the popularity of Malatang.

The report spread through Chinese social networking services (SNS) such as Weibo. The post sharing the article received over 10,000 comments, and on the 23rd, the keyword "Korea addicted to Malatang" ranked second in Weibo's real-time search terms.

The problem began when some Chinese netizens made unreasonable claims that "Korea will claim Malatang as their own food." Comments on the article included absurd reactions such as "Koreans will soon steal Malatang after kimchi," "We must be careful so that Korea does not register Malatang as a World Cultural Heritage," and "We must protect our food Malatang from being taken away by Korea."

Some Chinese netizens are making absurd claims that Korea is trying to steal Malatang. The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. Photo by Getty Images Bank

Meanwhile, China continues its 'Northeast Project,' which claims excellent indigenous cultures from around the world, including Korea's kimchi and hanbok, as their own. Recently, China's mobile game 'Civilization Conquest' faced fierce criticism for labeling Admiral Yi Sun-sin's civilization as 'China' in its advertisement.

Domestic netizens who saw the advertisement criticized it as "historical distortion." In response, the game company explained, "The operations team confirmed that the name was mistakenly recorded and immediately deleted it," adding, "An editing error occurred during image production, and it was used in the advertisement without separate verification."

Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women's University pointed out on Facebook on the 19th, "Although the company provided an explanation, we should pay attention to the suspicion that China has continuously used games as a means of 'cultural engineering.' Especially since mobile games are easily accessible to children and adolescents, there is a real concern that they could instill incorrect cultural and historical awareness."

He emphasized, "If Chinese games distort our culture and history again in the future, we should not only criticize and express anger but actively respond to ensure proper corrections are made."