"My Sister-in-Law Shares Mom's Homemade Kimjang Kimchi with Her Parents... Am I Being Unreasonable?"

A woman shared her concern about her sister-in-law who brings homemade kimchi, painstakingly made by her mother alone, to her own parents' house.

On the 19th, a post titled "Sister-in-law who brings kimchi to her parents' house" was uploaded on an online community.

Employees of 65 member companies of the Korea Financial Investment Association, related organizations, and others are making kimchi at the Love Kimchi Fair event held on the 14th at the Yeouido Park Cultural Square in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul. The kimchi made that day will be donated to social welfare facilities of the Green Umbrella Children's Foundation. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

The author, Ms. A, said, "My mother never asked her daughter-in-law to help during kimchi-making season because she was worried the sister-in-law might feel burdened," and added, "After finishing the kimchi, my mother fed her boiled pork with the new kimchi and told her to just take the kimchi. She has treated her daughter-in-law like that throughout the four years of marriage."

She continued, "The sister-in-law takes about 20 kg of kimchi, saying it tastes good when kimchi is made," and wrote, "She has never once left a gift or an envelope for my mother when taking the kimchi."

Ms. A, who recently finished making kimchi, said her brother asked, "Can you give us a bit more kimchi this year?" She added, "I heard that when we make kimchi at our house, they split it with the sister-in-law’s parents," and said, "Apparently, the sister-in-law’s mother is not good at cooking, so they have been buying kimchi until now."

Ms. A said, "I get annoyed at my brother who says such things without any thought, and I really dislike my in-laws and sister-in-law," and asked, "Am I being mean for thinking this way?"

As opinions questioning the authenticity of the post continued, Ms. A added another post saying, "I wish this were fabricated too." She explained, "Our family eats a lot of kimchi, so we make 60 kg of kimchi," and said, "My father consumes a huge amount of kimchi, and my brother is someone who looks for kimchi on the dining table if there isn’t any."

She added, "Since my brother eats much more than the sister-in-law, my mother made the kimchi alone and gave it to him."

She continued, "My brother asked me to bring an empty container from their kimchi refrigerator in advance, so I packed kimchi in it. But not long after, he said they ran out of kimchi and bought some from the supermarket," and explained, "When I asked if they already finished that amount, my brother said without thinking that they shared it with the sister-in-law’s parents, so I found out."

Ms. A said, "I don’t know if they have been sharing like that for the entire four years of marriage," and lamented, "I was so shocked that there are families who make kimchi for their in-laws like that, so I posted this."

Netizens who read the story responded with comments such as, "It’s unbelievable that she has taken 20 kg of kimchi all this time without even a thank-you," "At least they should help or cover the cost of ingredients when taking it; it’s so shameless," and "Making kimchi is so hard, but the brother and sister-in-law are so selfish."

Meanwhile, according to a survey by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), the cost of making kimchi for a family of four (based on 20 heads of napa cabbage) this year is 206,747 KRW. This is 6.2% lower than the average cost of 220,457 KRW but about 3% higher than last year’s 199,812 KRW.