A seafood-focused YouTuber with 1.3 million subscribers exposed cheating practices at fish markets, such as rigging scales and soaking products to add weight, and then received threatening complaints from some vendors.
Kim Ji-min, a seafood-focused YouTuber and fish columnist, recently posted a video on the YouTube channel "Memories of Fishing Bites TV" titled "After exposing scale-rigging, what came back was vendors' threats, so I made a decision."
Earlier, Kim revealed methods of soaking and scale-rigging that occur during king crab sales. Soaking is a method of submerging seafood in water so it absorbs water and gains weight, and scale-rigging is the act of calculating with the basket's weight included or manipulating the scale to increase the weight.
At the time, through experiments, Kim said that making a king crab absorb water adds 60–120 grams, and using a basket can increase the weight by as much as 500 grams to 1 kilogram.
After the video was posted, some vendors expressed discomfort. Comments on the video read, "Please stop uploading videos about king crabs. There's hardly any profit even from selling one king crab. Consider the cost of maintaining the tanks, water bills, stall fees, and labor," and, "When you upload videos, vendors really suffer a lot. You evil of this society! Are you the Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries? Stop harassing struggling vendors. There are many people waiting to get you."
Regarding the purpose of posting the video, Kim said, "If there are people selling like this, the intent is 'please stop from now on,' and the video was posted so consumers can respond wisely," adding, "Afterward, I received messages asking me to stop posting king crab videos."
Kim added, "If a vendor is doing business conscientiously, there is no reason to dislike me. In fact, there were many reactions from vendors who had suffered due to unfair practices saying it was 'refreshing.'"
Kim said, "As someone who cares about fish markets, I have tried to highlight only the good so that many people would visit," adding, "Most of the channel's content is information about seafood basics, preparation methods, and promoting consumption. I have introduced these cases only when reports from victims came in."
Kim added, "Even now, soaking and scale-rigging are happening, and the fact that it hasn't been fixed for decades suggests the merchants' association is in cahoots. I could have a third party expose this and shoot dozens of whistleblowing videos. Before it comes to that, I hope you build self-correction and keep it within bounds."
Kim said, "If you are selling conscientiously but a customer who came after watching my video caused a scene or you suffered damage from such a customer, email me your shop name. Then I will promote your store and listen to your difficulties in person."