The Inside Story: The 'Wild Shrimp' Deopjuk Case and Why Paik Jong-won Was Cleared

The Theborn Korea corporate entity and a working-level staff member have been indicted on charges of advertising a product made with farmed Vietnamese shrimp as "wild shrimp."

Paik Jong-won, CEO of Theborn Korea, received a non-prosecution disposition, with authorities citing a lack of evidence that he approved the advertisement or was aware of its contents.

On September 16, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted Theborn Korea and a home shopping manager at the distribution business team, identified by the surname A, without detention on charges of violating the Food Labeling and Advertising Act.

Theborn Korea and person A are accused of including the phrase "wild shrimp" while selling "Deopjuk" products on the SK Store online shopping mall from June 2024 to March of last year, despite using farmed whiteleg shrimp from Vietnam as a topping.

Prosecutors reportedly confirmed that the shrimp used in the products were farmed whiteleg shrimp from Vietnam based on import declaration certificates and other documents.

In particular, before the advertisement was posted, the SK Store review team requested Theborn Korea to submit materials proving that the shrimp were wild. Investigations showed that the promotional phrase "wild shrimp" was posted without being modified even though evidentiary documents were not secured.

Person A reportedly denied the charges, claiming that the erroneous labeling was simply overlooked during the hurried preparation of the home shopping broadcast and that there was no intent to run a false advertisement.

Sales of the Deopjuk product in question were investigated to be approximately 171.46 million won.

However, police determined that the advertisement was handled autonomously by lower-level staff, and thus issued a non-prosecution disposition for CEO Paik.

Prosecutors also issued a non-prosecution disposition due to a lack of evidence suggesting that CEO Paik was involved in the false advertisement.

Regarding allegations that Paik's Coffee promoted "sweet potato bread" made with Chinese sweet potatoes using phrases like "our agricultural produce," prosecutors issued a non-prosecution disposition for Theborn Korea and the responsible staff member.

Considering points such as the origin being labeled as Chinese on the official website and store posters, and social media posts explaining that the sweet potato bread in question was excluded from the "Our Value Project," prosecutors concluded that it was difficult to recognize an intent to deceive consumers.

Accordingly, following supplementary investigations and reinvestigations, prosecutors brought only Theborn Korea's corporate entity and the staff member to trial in connection with the "wild shrimp" advertisement.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by IYOO | Graphics by Sumin | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.