{"id":4582,"date":"2026-05-06T02:35:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/4582\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:35:53","slug":"north-korea-hates-k-culture-but-loves-blatantly-copying-seouls-trends-as-craze-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/4582\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea hates K-culture but loves blatantly copying Seoul\u2019s trends as craze grows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even as <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/north-korea?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">North Korea<\/a> spent 2025 pushing a political strategy centred on ignoring South Korea, the country simultaneously copied South Korean products, designs and cultural content \u2013 from food packaging to football fan zones \u2013 revealing what analysts describe as a contradictory yet calculated pattern of imitation.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While Pyongyang continues to warn against the inflow of South Korean culture, it has selectively adopted popular elements and repurposed them as its own through what observers call \u201csubjective adaptation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to Kang Dong-wan, a professor at Dong-A University and head of the Busan Hana Centre, North Korea\u2019s tendency to \u201cfollow the South\u201d became more blatant over the past year.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">One example is a noodle product whose packaging closely resembles Samyang Foods\u2019 Buldak ramen, complete with a similar black background and fiery chicken mascot. North Korea reportedly produced the imitation product, labelled \u201cSpicy Kimchi Bibim Noodles\u201d, and exported it to China in an apparent attempt to benefit from the global K-food boom.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Photos provided by Kang also show a range of copycat goods produced by the Rason Yongson joint venture company, including an instant noodle product made to look nearly identical to Samyang\u2019s beef-flavoured ramen and a soft drink called \u201cCoca-Cola Carbonated Drink\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The packaging of North Korea\u2019s Spicy Kimchi Bibim Noodles. Photo: Kang Dong-wan\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1dc68f41-bebb-475d-9505-7fb0f6465c55_be824b52.jpg\" title=\"The packaging of North Korea\u2019s Spicy Kimchi Bibim Noodles. Photo: Kang Dong-wan\"\/>The packaging of North Korea\u2019s Spicy Kimchi Bibim Noodles. Photo: Kang Dong-wan<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In Pyongyang, an instant photo booth modelled after the South Korean Life Four Cuts street photo booth has appeared under the name \u201cStylish Photographer\u201d, reflecting the adoption of South Korean-inspired leisure trends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even as North Korea spent 2025 pushing a political strategy centred on ignoring South Korea, the country simultaneously&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4006,134,4005,4012,4004,199,4011,4010,4009,4007,131,133,34,129,4008,33],"class_list":["post-4582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","tag-busan-hana-centre","tag-china","tag-coca-cola-carbonated-drink","tag-dong-a-university","tag-fifa-under-17-womens-world-cup","tag-k-culture","tag-k-food","tag-kang-dong-wan","tag-kim-jong-un-regime","tag-korea-japan-world-cup","tag-kyungnam-university","tag-lim-eul-chul","tag-north-korea","tag-pyongyang","tag-rodong-sinmun","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}