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SEOUL – It is known as the king of instant noodles in South Korea.
In order to create noodles with a unique Korean spicy flavor, Mr. Shin Choon-ho led a team of researchers experimenting with various recipes, testing more than 20 types of chili before inventing the iconic red-packaged Shin Ramyun.
Ramyun, more commonly spelled “ramyeon,” is Korean for instant noodles.
“I’m not trying to sell noodles using my last name,” Shin had said when the brand was launched in the mid-1980s. “Shin is just a short and simple way of saying spicy.”
The Chinese character of his last name means spicy.
More than three decades later, Shin Ramyun has become synonymous with Korean instant noodles.
Noodle giant Nongshim’s flagship product is exported to more than 100 countries around the world and earned the company some 390 million US dollars (525 million Singapore dollars) last year, which is 40 percent. of your income abroad.
Shin Ramyun, who also ranks first at home, is hands down the greatest legacy left by Shin.
He died of a chronic illness on March 27 at the age of 91, leaving a food empire that was forged only after a bitter feud with his older brother, the late founder of Lotte, Shin Kyuk-ho.
Born in 1930 in the southeastern port city of Ulsan, Mr. Shin Choon-ho was the third in a family of 10 siblings.
After graduating with a law degree in 1958, he worked in Lotte’s confectionery business in Japan and developed a keen interest in instant noodles, which had just been invented and were gaining popularity.
Elder Lord Shin frowned at the idea and reportedly yelled, “How dare you put Lotte’s name on instant noodles?”
Mr. Shin Choon-ho ended up establishing his own company in 1965 with a seed capital of 5 million won to develop Korean noodles and snacks that are different from Japanese varieties.
The company’s first product, launched in 1971, was Saewookkang (prawn crackers), apparently a Korean version of Calbee’s Japanese company’s Kappa Ebisen (shrimp chips), but made with rice instead of wheat.
Saewookkang is known as South Korea’s first locally created snack and remains popular even today, with annual sales of around 70 billion won (S $ 83 million).
It is said that Mr. Shin came up with the catchy name “kkang” after hearing his youngest daughter sing the popular folk song Arirang, mispronouncing the word as “ari-kkang”.
Determined to create a Korean ramyeon, he encouraged his staff to keep going.
“If we can stand on our own, we can go far. We should create our own ramyeon that is loved by Koreans,” said the famous.
Spicy meat-based Shin Ramyun was finally released in 1986 after countless experiments and took the country by storm.
A premium version Shin Black was introduced in 2011 and is hailed by many, including the New York Times, as the best ramyeon in the world.
However, Nongshim’s success further opened the gap between Shin and his older brother.
The two brothers reportedly avoided each other and did not attend the family’s ancestral rites together. The younger Lord Shin was also conspicuously absent from his brother’s funeral earlier last year.
Unlike his fierce-tempered older brother, Shin Choon-ho was fiercely reserved and rarely made public appearances.
He was known to be deeply involved in all of Nongshim’s products and withdrew only in February this year when his health deteriorated.
Shin’s eldest son Dong-won is expected to replace him. Three of his other four sons run companies affiliated with Nongshim.
According to Nongshim, Mr. Shin’s last words to his family were “love one another.” This is seen as a sign that he expected his sons to make things up with their cousins who now run the Lotte Group.
To his employees, he expressed his hopes that they would continue to “grow Nongshim with the best quality, built with honesty.”
At a memorial service on March 30, Nongshim Vice President Park Joon paid tribute to the man who led the company for 56 years and made it the fifth-largest instant noodle maker in the world.
“President Shin always chose a path other people would not take, and introduced innovative products that would change history,” said Mr. Park.
“If there’s one thing I learned under his shadow, it’s his philosophy of contributing to society by making delicious food and dreaming of becoming number one in the world with ramyeon.”
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