Baek Jong-won, the representative of Theborn Korea, bows and greets after finishing the regular shareholders' meeting held at Space Share Gangnam Station in Seocho-gu, Seoul on Mar. 28. /Courtesy of News1

Theborn Korea, a restaurant company led by CEO Baek Jong-won, has received a corrective order from the Gangnam District of Seoul related to allegations of 'false advertising' claiming that farmed shrimp imported from Vietnam were marketed as wild shrimp.

On the 28th, Gangnam District announced that it had notified Theborn Korea of a corrective order for violating the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Food, etc. A prior notification of corrective order was sent to Theborn Korea on the 1st, granting them until the 24th to submit a response, but since Theborn Korea did not submit a response, corrective action will be taken.

Previously, a post on an online community raised concerns about the country of origin labeling of Theborn Korea's 'Deopjuk' product. The ingredients list on the Deopjuk packaging stated 'shrimp (Vietnam),' but the product sales detail page promoted by Theborn Korea described it as 'the finishing touch of the Deopjuk topping, with plump, wild shrimp.' Typically, white-legged shrimp imported from Vietnam are farmed shrimp.

Additionally, Gangnam District reported Theborn Korea to the police on the 1st for suspected violations of the Food Labeling and Advertising Act. A district official noted, 'Theborn Korea stated that they did not separately verify the origin of the shrimp.'

The advertisement for the ‘Deopjook’ product sold by Theborn Korea is shown after the wording was revised due to controversy. /Courtesy of Online Community Capture

This is not the first time Theborn Korea has faced controversy over false advertising. The coffee franchise Baekdabang is also under suspicion of false advertising. According to a complaint filed with the police, Baekdabang promoted 'chewy sweet potato bread' on Instagram with the phrase 'Our agricultural products, our Baekdabang' in January last year, but noted in another post that 'some China-grown sweet potatoes are included.' The Gangnam Police in Seoul placed CEO Baek under non-custodial investigation regarding this matter on the 21st of last month.

As the controversy continued, Baek issued an apology on the 19th, stating, 'We will thoroughly inspect not only the country of origin labeling issue but also all product description text, and we will implement a permanent monitoring system composed of external experts.'