Baek Jong-won, CEO of TheBorn Korea, has failed to win legal backing for his long-standing claim to be the originator of daepae samgyeopsal (thinly sliced pork belly). A court found that the dish was already popular in Busan and other cities in the 1980s and dismissed a damages claim filed by a TheBorn Korea franchisee.
According to legal sources on Wednesday, the Anyang branch of the Suwon District Court ruled against the plaintiff on the 25th of last month in a damages lawsuit filed by a TheBorn Korea franchisee against Kim Jae-hwan, a YouTuber and former journalist. Kim had raised suspicions that Baek's claim to have first developed daepae samgyeopsal was not true.
Baek has explained on various broadcasts that the dish originated when he mistakenly bought a ham slicer while trying to buy a meat cutter. When he sliced frozen pork belly with the slicer, the meat curled into round shapes as if it had been shaved by a carpenter's plane. He said he came up with the daepae samgyeopsal menu based on this shape.
Kim, by contrast, countered that daepae samgyeopsal had naturally emerged and been sold in areas such as Busan and Gwangju before 1993. To prove his claim, he produced content called "Daepae Road," personally visiting and reporting on longtime local restaurants in Busan, Masan, Gwangju and Cheongju that had sold daepae samgyeopsal since the 1980s. A longtime restaurant in Seoul that had sold the same menu item since 1992 was also confirmed.
In response, one TheBorn Korea franchisee filed a damages claim against Kim, arguing that the false suspicions had damaged the brand's value and reduced sales.
But the court's judgment was different. The court said daepae samgyeopsal appeared to have already been popular in Busan since the 1980s. It explained that since slicing pork belly thinly with a meat cutter naturally results in the meat curling into round shapes, the dish is difficult to view as one requiring a special manufacturing process.
Regarding the decline in franchise sales, the court pointed out that with several controversies surrounding Baek erupting at the same time, the drop in sales could not be attributed to a single YouTube video. The court judged that Kim's raising of the suspicions was a public-interest issue, dismissed the plaintiff's claim and ordered the plaintiff to bear the litigation costs as well.
TheBorn Korea said the lawsuit was filed by an individual franchisee who believed they had been harmed by the YouTuber's malicious video. It added that it is preparing appropriate protective measures to prevent franchisees' damages from recurring.
