Even as North Korea spent 2025 pushing a political strategy centered on ignoring South Korea, the country simultaneously copied South Korean products, designs and cultural content — from food packaging to football fan zones — revealing what analysts describe as a contradictory yet calculated pattern of imitation. While Pyongyang continues to warn against the inflow of South Korean culture, it has selectively adopted popular elements and repurposed them as its own through what observers call “subjective adaptation.” According to Kang Dong-wan, a professor at Dong-A University and head of the Busan Hana Center, North Korea’s tendency to “follow the South” became more blatant over the past year. One example is a noodle product whose packaging closely resembles Samyang Foods’ Buldak Ramen, complete with a similar black background and fiery chicken mascot. North Korea reportedly produced the imitation product, labeled “Spicy Kimchi Bibim Noodles,” and exported it to China in an apparent attempt to benefit from the global K-food boom. Photos provided by Kang also show a ra