Global Times, China, introduced an article from the Chosun Ilbo on January 26. The article is about Kim who runs a bar in Gangnam, Seoul. One day, a customer yelled at him because the customer bought several bottles of Asahi beer, which is an expensive Japanese beer brand. However, the customer found the words ‘made in China’ on the bottles, the customer thought Kim forced inferior beer on him, so the customer wanted his money back. Kim was also surprised, he thought the beer was made in Japan too.
A person in charge of importing Asahi beer to Korea explained, "It is too expensive to import beer from Japan, but importing Asahi beer from China is cheaper. However, the process to make the Asahi beer is exactly same in China as it is in Japan." Thus, Koreans look at ‘made in China’ with jaundiced eyes, and feel they are being fooled by the company. Even some Korean lovers of beer call the beer ‘Chasahi’ which is a play on words to mean ‘Asahi’, but it is made in ‘China.’
Zhan De Bin, a correspondent for the Global Times in Korea said, "Made in China has been symbolized as low-grade and cheap goods in Korea. Korean merchants always compare their goods to ‘made in China’, and insist their goods are much better than Chinese products. Korean media also often speaks that how advanced the level of Korean technology is, and how clean Korean foods are. But 'made in China' is everywhere in Korea, from foods to electronics."
