A print advert for South Korean kimchi during the World Cup has triggered a fresh round of bickering with China about cultural heritage.
The advert for Korea's traditional spicy pickled cabbage employed Sichuan pots. The pot is part of China's heritage and was copied by Koreans, Tu Jianhua, an inspector in the province's Agriculture Department was quoted as saying on June 8 by Sichuan Online, the provincial government's website.
Alongside the report, the website published a picture of glamorous South Korean women soccer players posing with packets of a South Korean brand of kimchi beside a couple of small pots and a central big pot in the shape of a soccer ball on a soccer field.
'The most distinguishing feature of Sichuan pickled cabbage is the pot in which it is made,' Tu said. 'We should give it some thought when South Korea has made an issue of it.'
The 'weak branding and marketing' of Sichuan pickled cabbage had left an opportunity that could be exploited to South Korea's advantage, he said.
There have been mainland reports that South Korea has been planning to register traditional Chinese herbs as an intangible cultural heritage and that some historical figures, including Cao Cao, a warlord in the Three Kingdoms period; Li Bai , a Tang dynasty poet; and revolutionary leader Dr Sun Yat-sen were of South Korean extraction.
The report about the pot has sparked widespread comment by internet users, mostly lashing out at South Korea for 'again stealing' Chinese culture.