”Don't include a picture of Takeshima”... Korean rice cracker manufacturer gives up on exports to Japan, but is flooded with orders domestically

A rice cracker manufacturer that had pictures of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean) on its product packaging was asked by the Japanese side to "please remove the pictures of Takeshima," but refused and gave up on exporting the product.
As the story was announced, orders have been flooding in within South Korea. Starting in 2021, Orbalm, a rice cracker manufacturer for children, will be printing the words "Dokdo is Korean territory" on the back of its product packaging.
Both of these products were sold with maps of Takeshima. However, this packaging made it difficult to export them to Japan. According to a report by the Jeonnam Daily Newspaper in May of this year, Olbalm
The company has been discussing exporting to Japan since December of last year. At the time, the company was in financial difficulty, and the Japanese manufacturer proposed a large-scale contract worth 15% of its annual sales.
The Japanese manufacturer demanded that they could do business with the company if they removed the picture of Takeshima. In the end, the president of Orbalm did not accept this.
An employee of the company who had worked there for five years at the time said through JTBC's "Case Leader" that "the company was at a crossroads.
"I cannot understand why they made such a decision without considering the position of the company and its employees in the situation they found themselves in," he said. However, when asked why the president, Mr. A, insisted on using the image and phrase "Takeshima," he said, "
"It's a matter of pride," Mr. A said on the broadcast, "Including (the picture of Liancourt Rocks) boosted our pride, so we couldn't remove the picture. We can't throw away our national pride for the sake of immediate profits."
"I was able to think about the meaning of Liancourt Rocks from an early age thanks to my father's influence. Since the sweets I sell are for children to eat, I naturally started thinking about them from an early age," he said.
"I put a picture of Liancourt Rocks in the hope that people would understand," he explained. When this story was shared, online sites such as Mama Cafe started to create a buzz with the name "Liancourt Rocks Rice Crackers."
As word of the product spread, orders increased sharply. In response, Olbalm said on its website, "We are very grateful that our product was called 'Dokdo rice crackers' after the program aired."
"All team members are working hard to deal with the overwhelming number of orders from outside. However, please understand that there may be delays in deliveries this week due to the overlap of public holidays and courier holidays."
Currently, this product is being exported to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries with the picture of Takeshima still on it.