BTS' Jin and Baek Jong-won's investment corporation for IGIN, Paiksooldoga, referred to prosecution for alleged violation of Origin Labeling Law

On Friday, November 21, the distributor of BTS' Jin and Baek Jong-won's liquor beverage brand IGIN, Paiksooldoga, was referred to the prosecution due to alleged violation of South Korea's origin labelling law. The report provided by the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS)'s Yesan Office of the Chungnam Regional Branch transferred Paiksooldoga and an individual related to the corporation to the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, Hongseong branch, on charges of the same violation.

According to the previous allegations raised against Paiksooldoga, formerly known as Yesandoga, it was accused of incorrectly labelling the IGIN liquor beverages produced by Jini's Lamp. The distributor labeled the plum and watermelon flavours of the IGIN beverages as domestically sourced on both the physical products and online websites. However, it was later allegedly reported that the fruit concentrates used for IGIN beverages are sourced from Chile and the United States.

South Korea's origin labelling law states that food items, especially those belonging to agricultural, fishery, and processed food categories, should only list the ingredients as domestically sourced if they are completely sourced from Korea. If they aren't sourced from Korea, the ingredients are necessary to be labeled as imported products. Here's what NAQS's Yesan Office commented regarding the alleged violation:

“An agricultural corporation that sells products online may label a processed food item as domestically sourced only if all ingredients except water, alcohol, sugars, including processed sugar products, and food additives are of domestic origin.”

Therefore, since BTS' Jin and Baek Jong-won stand as those responsible for overlooking the actions put forth by their investment corporations, an anonymous individual raised a complaint to the prosecution against Jin, Baek Jong-won, and Paiksooldoga, for the alleged violation. The complaint also highlighted that, given Jin's fame and impact in the industry, the idol should've been careful about overlooking the distribution of his IGIN products. Here's what the complaint shared by the anonymous individual read:

“Jin is an artist with significant global influence. Regardless of whether he holds legal liability, he should take moral responsibility for the fact that a corporation he invested in is suspected of violating origin labeling regulations.”

Therefore, the NAQS's Yesan Office concluded their report by stating that they are currently reviewing whether Paiksooldoga and IGIN's labeling practices can be considered a violation, depending on whether they misled the consumers or not.

---

Jini's Lamp representative responds to recent allegations of IGIN's origin labelling law violation

In December 2024, it was reported that BTS' Jin and the popular South Korean chef, Baek Jong-won, joined forces to create a ready-to-drink cocktail brand called IGIN, under the production of Jini's Lamp. The products are distributed through the agricultural company co-founded by both Jin and Baek Jong-won, Yesandoga, now referred to as Paiksooldoga, and the ingredients are labeled to be local products from Baek Jong-won's hometown, Yesan.

The company put forth a total of three flavours: its flagship product, Apple Gin, along with two other products, Saekon Tonic Plum and Dalkom Tonic Watermelon. While the venture has been largely loved and supported by many fans of the two celebrities, the latest controversy around the origin labelling of the IGIN products has destabilized its market. However, the production company of the beverages, Jini's Lamp, denied these allegations.

Through a statement released soon after the violation charges explained that the listing of the ingredients' origin was only mislabeled on online websites, and they fixed the listing details soon after the error was discovered. Here's what a representative from Jini's Lamp stated:

“All Jini's Lamp products accurately state ingredient origins on the physical product labels, so there is no issue with the products themselves. However, during the online listing process, the detailed information for another flavor was mistakenly uploaded for a period of time, and the issue was immediately corrected once it was discovered.”

---

On the other hand, if the allegations are found to be true, the violation of Korea's origin labeling law calls for imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million KRW.

Edited by Aishwarya Sai