FACT CHECK: Is Japan Claiming 'Dolsot Bibimbap' Origin? Tracking How the Claim Spread

Since earlier this month, posts claiming that "Japan is asserting itself as the originator of dolsot bibimbap (hot stone pot bibimbap)" have spread across online communities and social media.

Several screenshots were attached to the posts. They included a Japanese manga claiming that "dolsot bibimbap originated in Osaka, Japan," along with social media posts from Japanese users agreeing with the comic.


Given that bibimbap represents K-food, and serving it in a hot stone pot is an integral part of Korean culinary culture, claiming Japan as its origin naturally sparked public outrage.

South Korean netizens did not stay silent. Drawing a comparison to China's historical distortion efforts known as the "Northeast Project," they even coined the term "Dolsot Project" to accuse Japan. Numerous YouTube Shorts videos criticizing Japan also emerged.

There is no doubt that Korea is the origin of dolsot bibimbap. The Traditional Culture Portal (www.kculture.or.kr), operated by the Korea Craft & Design Foundation, clearly outlines the origins of dolsot bibimbap. It notes that the dish originated in Jeonju during the 1960s.


Then, is the claim that Japan is the originator of dolsot bibimbap actually spreading rapidly in Japan?

Today, SBS Fact Check "Fact Is" takes a closer look at the "diffusion process" of this information.


First, we decided to track down the original manga that allegedly claims "dolsot bibimbap was created in Osaka, Japan." After verifying through various tools including Google Image Search and AI, the original title of the manga was confirmed as "The Yakiniku People Bulgogi" (The 焼肉PEOPLE プルコギ).

The SBS Fact Check team purchased the manga online to inspect its contents. We indeed found a section explaining that "dolsot bibimbap originated in Osaka."

On the left is the translated version circulating on social media, and on the right is the original manga page.
So, the claim that a Japanese manga insists Japan is the origin of dolsot bibimbap was true.

However, this manga was published 20 years ago in 2007. The content was written 20 years ago.

There were also many screenshots showing Japanese netizens agreeing with the manga's claims. We examined whether such posts actually existed and when they were uploaded.

However, a large number of those posts had been deleted or the accounts had been closed, and the most recent among the remaining posts was confirmed to have been written 2 years ago.


In short, content from a 20-year-old manga and comments from netizens years ago were brought up to claim that "Japan is conducting a 'Dolsot Project'." No "recent new arguments" related to this current "Dolsot Project" controversy could be found.

When checking when this controversy previously arose, we confirmed that this pattern repeats almost every year. Five years ago, a post on a local online community brought up the exact same manga and Japanese reactions, starting with claims that "Japan is claiming to be the origin of dolsot bibimbap" to incite anger. A similar post appeared last year as well, containing content identical to what was posted this year.


When the Fact Check team thoroughly examined Japanese social media, communities, and news articles, we found that claims asserting Japan as the origin of dolsot bibimbap were indeed made by some right-wing politicians in the early to mid-2010s, when anti-Korean sentiment was high. For example, Kaori Arimoto, the current secretary-general of the Conservative Party of Japan and a well-known right-wing politician, posted: "I heard dolsot bibimbap was started by a famous Zainichi (ethnic Korean in Japan) yakiniku restaurant owner." This, too, was not a recent post, having been written in November 2015. Even at the time, the claim did not gain significant attention in Japan.


In conclusion, this is a structure in which scenes from an old comic and past social media reactions are repeatedly summoned, repositioned into the present context, and used to stir up anger each time. The "dolsot bibimbap origin controversy" spreading online is not a simple debate over food origins, but a textbook example of how old information is resurrected into outrage-inducing content and reproduced as fake or exaggerated information.

Of course, refuting false claims is important. This is all the more true for historical issues between Korea and Japan, where many unresolved tasks remain. There are still people in Japan who deny the comfort women issue and claim Dokdo as their territory. We must firmly respond to such historical distortions. However, stoking anger based on unverified information can ultimately weaken even our legitimate criticisms. Only fact-based criticism is persuasive and can empower our justified voice.

Regarding the claim that "assertions of Japan being the origin of dolsot bibimbap are spreading in Japan," the SBS Fact Check team rates this claim as "Mostly False."


(Writer: Kim Hyo-jin, Intern: Park Geun-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.