The 10-Won Meal That Became a Country's Comfort
Korea's first instant ramyeon launched in 1963 at 10 won a pack, born from post-war hunger and a soup recipe slipped across a Tokyo airport in secret. The story of how a cheap wheat noodle turned into a national habit — and why it is not Japanese ramen.
TL;DR — Korea's first instant ramyeon launched on September 15, 1963, at 10 won a pack, created by Samyang founder Jeon Jung-yun to fight post-war hunger. The crucial soup recipe came from Japan's Myojo Foods — reportedly handed over in secret at an airport. A government flour-promotion campaign turned ramyeon into a daily staple, and it never left.
To most of the world, Korean ramyeon arrives as spectacle: a face flushed red from a spicy-noodle challenge, or a steaming bowl in a film. The truth of where it came from is quieter than any of that, and considerably sadder. It was not invented to entertain. It was invented to keep people fed.
A businessman, a soup recipe, and a secret at the gate
Rewind to the early 1960s. Post-war Korea was still hungry, still rationing, still improvising meals from whatever the war had left behind. Jeon Jung-yun (전중윤 — also romanized Chun Joong-yoon), a former insurance-company president, was reportedly shaken by the sight of people lining up for kkulkkul-i-juk, "pig-swill stew" boiled from US Army leftovers. He concluded that what his country needed was not another financial product but cheap, warm, dependable calories.
The trouble was that Korea could not yet make instant noodles. So Jeon went to Japan, where Momofuku Ando had invented the format in 1958. Nissin turned him away. Its rival, Myojo Foods, was kinder: it let him apprentice for about a month and sold him two noodle machines — but held back the one thing that mattered most, the formula for the soup base. According to the founder's obituary in Hankook Ilbo, Myojo's president had a change of heart at the very last moment and secretly handed Jeon the soup recipe at the airport, overruling his own staff, just as Jeon was about to fly home. (A tidier "they gave it away for free" version floats around; the airport handover is the better-sourced one.)
That smuggled recipe became Korea's first ramyeon.
September 15, 1963
The product launched on September 15, 1963: "Samyang Ramen," at 10 won a packet — confirmed by the Korea Herald, which notes it was "inspired by the concept of dehydrated noodles in Japan." To feel the price, consider that a cup of coffee then ran 35 won. Jeon would later compress his whole leap from finance to noodles into a single sentence that Koreans still quote:
"When people have enough to eat, the world is at peace. What's needed now is not insurance, but a single meal."
How policy turned a product into a habit
A clever product does not, on its own, become a national dish. Government did the rest. Across the 1960s and 70s, the state ran a flour-promotion campaign — bunsik (분식, "flour food") — nudging citizens toward wheat and away from scarce rice, even decreeing "no-rice days." Fueled by US wheat aid, the campaign turned ramyeon into an everyday food, and the numbers tell the story: Samyang sold 2.4 million packets in 1966 and 15 million by 1969.
From there it threaded itself into daily life so thoroughly that it became shorthand for intimacy. The invitation "Do you want to come in for some ramyeon?" — from the 2001 film One Fine Spring Day — is Korea's version of "Netflix and chill," which tells you just how domestic, how ordinary, the food had become.
Not the same as Japanese ramen
People conflate the two endlessly, so here is the clean line between them.
Japanese ramen is, by tradition, a fresh, restaurant dish — a bowl assembled around a broth (tonkotsu, shoyu, shio, miso). Yes, instant noodles were invented in Japan by Momofuku Ando in 1958, but the ramen tradition is a sit-down meal.
Korean ramyeon almost always means the packaged instant product itself — flash-fried dried noodles and a powder sachet — and in that exact form it is a national dish. It runs spicy, with springy wheat noodles and a beef-and-chili-forward soup. Both words trace back to Chinese lamian; Korean "ramyeon" simply arrived by way of Japanese "ramen."
The folklore of the pot
Every Korean kitchen guards its own doctrine, but the agreed-upon add-ins are egg, scallion, a slice of processed cheese, and — non-negotiably — kimchi on the side. Nongshim's official Shin Ramyun instructions are refreshingly plain: 550 mL of water, cook 4–5 minutes. The home-cook rituals — pulling the noodles a touch early, flipping the block, letting carryover heat finish the job — are folklore stacked on top of that simple base.
And then there is jjapaguri, Chapagetti married to Neoguri, the back-of-the-cupboard hack the world met as "ram-don" in Parasite, crowned with expensive steak. Sixty years after a 10-won packet meant to hold off hunger, Korea's cheapest food stood as a symbol on the biggest stage in cinema. The meal did its job, and then some.
FAQ
When was Korean ramyeon invented?
Korea's first instant ramyeon, Samyang Ramen, launched on September 15, 1963, priced at 10 won, created by Samyang founder Jeon Jung-yun.
Where did the recipe come from?
The noodle-making equipment and the crucial soup-base recipe came from Japan's Myojo Foods; the founder's obituary describes the soup formula being handed over in secret at an airport before Jeon returned to Korea.
What's the difference between ramyeon and ramen?
Ramyeon usually refers to the Korean instant product (spicy, beef-and-chili soup, springy wheat noodles), while ramen traditionally means a fresh Japanese restaurant dish built around a broth. Both words descend from Chinese lamian.
Sources: Korea Herald, Hankook Ilbo, Korea JoongAng Daily, Fine Dining Lovers.
Image: Hyeon-Jeong Suk, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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