Jin of BTS and restaurateur Baek Jong Won’s joint liquor venture JINI’S LAMP has responded to recent allegations of violating Korea’s origin labeling law. On September 24 KST, a company representative issued an official statement, emphasizing that all their products comply with regulations set by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
“All our products are legally compliant and properly labeled with accurate origin information,” the official stated. “However, during the product listing process on online marketplaces, there was a temporary mistake where the detailed information from a different product was inadvertently displayed. Once we became aware, we immediately corrected it.”
The company further stressed that the product labels themselves contained no errors, and they are fully prepared to cooperate with any official investigation or inquiry.
The representative also clarified the relationship between JINI’s Lamp, Baek Jong Won, and his primary company:
“JINI’s Lamp is in no way affiliated with The Born Korea. Mr. Baek invested in the project as a private individual. The distributor Yesan Dogga, which has since changed its name to Baeksooldoga, is also an entirely separate legal entity from The Born Korea.”
The controversy erupted after a civic group filed a formal complaint with Korea’s National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service on September 22. The issue centered on JINI’s Lamp’s flavored highball products — particularly the ‘IGIN Highball Tonic’ in plum and watermelon flavors.
The complainants alleged that the online product pages listed the main ingredients as “Korean”, while the detailed ingredients actually revealed Chilean plum concentrate and American watermelon concentrate, respectively.
In response to the criticism, the company revised the origin label from “domestic” to “see detailed description” for those products.
Ginnie’s Lamp was co-founded by Baek Jong Won and Kim Seok Jin (Jin) in December 2022 and is based in Yesan County, Chungcheongnam-do. The brand launched its first distilled liquor product, IGIN, in December 2023.
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