Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DanseurVertical]

On many food and drink labels - even on traditional Korean products - I notice the majority of the ingredients are imported. Yet often they don't say from where. For 매실 (plum) juice, a lot of it apparently comes from China. But for the soybeans used in the green container of 사계절쌈장 (condiment for fresh vegetables / wraps), all the label says is that they're 수입산 (imported). And do Korean people realize that what's in all those green bottles of Seoul 막걸리 (mak-geol-li) is mostly made from imported rice? But I wonder, imported from where? Southern China?

A lot of Western people living in Korea think the government taxes the sale of imported products heavily relative to their domestic counterparts. [How true is this, by the way? Examples?] But accounting for the raw materials from which many products here are made, if the product bears the label of a Korean company, the tax is no different from a fully domestic product.