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| Lee Myung-ae, the owner of catering company Jinmiga Foods, poses with fresh vegetables in her kitchen in southwestern Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District, March 7. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
This is the first in a series of interviews featuring North Korean defectors and their assimilation into South Korean society. ― ED.
Fighting cancer, N. Korean defector tries to rebuild her once-thriving catering business
By Kang Hyun-kyung
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Once this condition is met, she added it doesn't matter to customers where the chef comes from.
She learned these lessons from her decades of experience in the food industry, first as a chef and restaurateur in North Korea and now as the owner of a catering business in South Korea.
"In my own experience, there is no cultural difference whatsoever in the food industries of the two Koreas," she said during a recent Korea Times interview at her kitchen in southwestern Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District. "People revisit and reorder if they like the food served. They don't know whether the owner of the restaurant or catering business is a North Korean defector or a person born in the South."
Under her leadership, Jinmiga Foods had been a thriving business until it closed temporarily two years ago because of her health problem.
"There are a set of principles I always underline whenever I have a chance to talk to aspiring founders of food startups," she said. "The dishes you are serving must be good enough to encourage your customers to revisit. Don't feel guilty about throwing away meat or other food ingredients no matter how expensive they are, if they are not good enough to serve. Pay your chefs well. They are the ones who will make your business take off."
She said these are the principles that made her business successful.
Jinmiga Foods is a lunch box caterer. After taking orders by phone, Lee prepares various dishes with fresh ingredients. Her employees put them into lunch boxes and deliver them to clients.
Lee resumed her catering business one month ago as her health has been recovering.
Coming out of a two-year hiatus, however, Lee is under growing pressure. Many changes took place in the food industry during her absence. Most importantly, the outlook of the catering business is not as positive as it was in the past when her thriving company kept her busy and generated solid revenue. Her business is facing fierce competition from cheaper lunch boxes available in convenience stores as well.
Lee has to start from scratch again, just as she did back in 2010 when she and her husband arrived in South Korea after defecting from the North. This time, she needs to do it by herself. Her husband passed away years ago in a traffic accident.
Misfortunes never come alone. She is also fighting cancer.
About 10 years ago, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which later developed into cancer at a time when she was grieving for her husband.
"My doctor knew that I came from North Korea, so he didn't know how to start when we sat down for the results of medical tests that I had taken days earlier," Lee said. "Sensing that something bad was happening to me, I told him that I had no other family members, so he had to tell me directly. I confronted him, asking if I had cancer. And he said yes."
Albeit in deep shock, Lee had little time for sadness. She felt growing financial stress as the cancer treatments continued. Most of the money she earned during the past decade since she started her own business in Seoul has been spent on treatments.
Despite the tough reality, she has been trying to overcome it with humor.
"Last year when I was hospitalized, I got a phone call from my employee. She said she had good news for me, telling me that there's no income tax I should pay," Lee said. "I responded, 'Wow, that's great news!' After hanging up the phone, I had mixed feelings. I was relieved because I don't need to spend extra money on taxes, but at the same time, I had bitter feelings as zero income tax means that I didn't make any money that year."
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| Lee Myung-ae poses in her kitchen in Seoul, March 7. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
Lee is a model North Korean defector who has successfully assimilated into South Korean society.
In 2011, she opened a small eatery in Mok-dong, Yangcheon District, near the broadcaster SBS' headquarters. She sold authentic Pyongyang "naengmyeon" or cold noodles.
Her business had gone very well after the first three months, thanks to her loyal customers. They visited her eatery again and again and some brought their families there.
Word of mouth spread quickly about the small restaurant and people began flocking to it.
"Our restaurant was very small and there were only 16 seats available. So people queued outside the restaurant. Some complained about a lack of a parking lot outside the restaurant, but they kept coming," she said.
Despite the thriving business, Lee had to close it down three years later as the neighborhood was designated by the city for urban renewal.
Amid disappointment, she saw a glimmer of hope. She thought she could take the closure of her eatery as an opportunity to start a new, more thriving food business.
Around that time, Lee had growing interest in the catering business.
She searched for catering businesses up for sale. It didn't take long for her to sign a contract to purchase Jinmiga Foods from its founder and owner.
The catering business was in decline with snowballing deficits.
"The previous owner was a warm person. He's from Busan and tried to help me and my husband a lot. After we signed the contract, he stayed with us for two weeks to teach us about customer service and he connected us to his clients," Lee said. "In the beginning, he had doubts about our business plan because he knew we're from North Korea and we had no previous experience in the catering business. So, he taught us from A to Z."
The previous owner's initial concern turned into confidence after he witnessed the positive feedback from the couple's first clients, a hospital staffer who ordered 30 lunch boxes.
"He told us that the first hour after delivering lunch boxes is crucial to figure out our customers' feedback, meaning that if customers have any complaints, they would call immediately to protest," she said. "His cellphone rang loudly about 30 minutes after the delivery. My husband and I were very nervous."
Actually, it was good news for the couple. The person on the other side of the phone called to express her gratitude for the delicious food.
Lee said she and her husband heaved a sigh of relief. "The previous owner told us, 'you guys made it!'" she said.
Fresh ingredients and good food won over her clients.
Lee said she served several different types of kimchi she had made a couple of days before, instead of the cheap Chinese import, which the previous owner used. She also used fresh ingredients for all dishes. To serve safe and fresh food, she grows white radishes, Korean cabbage and green onions on her farm in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province.
Her catering business had been going well. In 2017 and 2018 when the business reached its peak, she was paying 40 million won ($30,326) in income tax annually.
Lee is a proud taxpayer.
"To me, paying tax means a lot," she said, sharing her own experience of learning what taxes are and how they are spent in her very early days in South Korea.
"On the wall of the cafeteria of the facility, there was an electronic display board which constantly reminded that meals served there were financed by South Korean taxpayers. I realized that paying taxes is a good thing and was determined to be a good taxpayer," she said.
The facility she was referring to is the Protection Center for North Korean Defectors.
All North Korean defectors are sent to the center based in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, once they arrive in South Korea. They are required to spend three months there answering questions from the government authorities regarding their motives behind escaping from the North, their family members left behind and others to determine whether they are truly refugees.
Asked about her future plans, Lee said she wants to open a high-end restaurant selling authentic North Korean food.
Born in Wonsan, the North Korean part of Gangwon Province, Lee worked as a chef at her own restaurant before she and her husband escaped from the North.
