This photo, taken Feb. 15, 2021, shows kimchi, a traditional Korean side dish normally made of fermented cabbage, salt and hot peppers, being displayed at a supermarket in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Naver and Daum, the top two portal sites in South Korea, listed kimchi defined as “pao cai,” a non-Korean dish from China’s Sichuan Province, in their Chinese dictionaries, a civic group here said Thursday.
The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) reported that Naver’s Chinese dictionary defines kimchi as ‘pao cai’, with relevant terms such as kimchi stew or radish kimchi defined as ‘pao cai stew’ or ‘radish pao cai’.
Daum’s dictionary, too, defines kimchi as ‘pao cai’, with various example sentences translating kimchi as the Chinese dish.
In contrast, English dictionaries from both portal sites defined kimchi as a common noun.
Pao cai is a pickled vegetable dish consumed in China which is completely different from kimchi in terms of its production and fermentation.
China, however, continues to insist on the false claim that kimchi is a Chinese food that originated in China.
“Many Korean students who study the Chinese language depend on online dictionaries, and believe that these definitions are correct,” VANK head Park Ki-tae said.
“If kimchi continues to be defined as ‘pao cai’, they will start to believe that this is the correct translation. It must be revised.”
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
