The '2025 World Ramen Festival' held in Busan's Gijang County has been embroiled in controversy due to poor management. Event participants are protesting and demanding refunds, but the organizers who sold the tickets are said to be unresponsive.
The 2025 World Ramen Festival was organized by the Busan Association of Disabled Persons in 16 Districts and the nonprofit Hope Boat and took place on the 2nd at the Osiria Tourism Complex in Gijang County. The festival will continue until the 11th.
This festival is being held for the first time this year. The organizers have promoted the festival, stating that more than 2,200 ramen brands from 15 countries worldwide, including domestically produced ramen as well as those from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States, are participating. The admission fee is 10,000 won.
However, on the 8th, visitors on the internet portal site Naver have been pouring in negative reviews. The festival has received a score of 0.7 out of 5 points. This disappointment arises because visitors expecting to experience a variety of ramen were met with only Nongshim's Shin Ramyeon and Squid Jjamppong at the actual event.
Visitors have left comments on X (formerly Twitter) such as, 'A world ramen festival with no ramen,' 'It's not a world ramen festival; it's a festival with three types of ramen. Three foreign ramens, and only Shin Ramyeon and Squid Jjamppong from Korea,' 'If I had known it was only Shin Ramyeon and Squid Jjamppong, I would have gone to the convenience store near my house,' and 'The water was lukewarm enough to wash my face, making it impossible to eat ramen.'
Currently, the World Ramen Festival's website is inundated with inquiries requesting the cancellation and refund of ticket payments. However, there has been no contact with the Hope Boat organization that sold the tickets. Some consumers have reported that even after seven days of requesting a refund, they have not received any processing or response.
Some critics have drawn comparisons with the Gumi Ramen Festival, pointing out that the products provided at the event were Nongshim ramen. However, Nongshim has confirmed that it is unrelated to this festival. A Nongshim representative stated, 'Nongshim has not officially participated or sponsored this event at all,' adding, 'It seems that the organizers prepared everything on their own.'
Netizens have reacted on internet portal sites with comments such as, 'This reminds me of the Jamboree incident. A ramen jamboree,' 'What are they doing? It's a disgrace to Busan,' 'Are they really charging 10,000 won for that?' 'Experiencing being a refugee for 10,000 won,' and 'I have more varieties of ramen at home.'