What you need to know to distinguish bottled water in Korea.

   Just 30 years ago, Koreans used to take drinking water from a place called "Yagsuteo" or "Mineral Spring" which is located on the vicinity of each neighborhood. Of course, in the past, the water quality in Korea was so clean that everyone just poured water from the local stream.

 

 

Mineral Spring at Sieosan Mountain, Kimhea city

      However, these days, as industrialization progresses, water pollution problems have become more serious and water purifiers have become a daily necessity for each household. It has become a daily routine to buy water through marts or online shopping.
  

   In Korea, the water that ordinary people drink is called "saengsu" which is translated as "bottled water. The original meaning of the word saengsu is "clear water from the spring hole" which means that it is a water that does not harm people to drink even if it is without any purification or filtration process.

 

 

There are also types of water in South Korea.

  If the water is clear and transparent, it is thought to be as bottled water. But according to Korean law, "not all water is the same".
        

 Korea enacted the Drinking Water Management Act in 1995 and classified bottled water into two types. It's "Meogeun-saemul" and "honhab-eumlyo." Each of the two products is managed or supervised by a different institution.

There are several bottled water brands in Korea.

 

1. Meogneun-saemmul

 According to Korean law, Drinking Water Article 3, Paragraph 3, "meogneun-saemmul"  is defined as water prepared by physically treating spring water to make it suitable for drinking.

 In other words,  "meogneun-saemmul" is water that is directly taken from the water source and sold after filtration with microorganisms to preserve the existing ingredients such as minerals dissolved in the water as much as possible.

 

 In this case, since the water quality management of the water source is important, the Ministry of Environment of Korea has the authority to manage and supervise "meogneun-saemmul".

 

 

2. Honhab-eumlyo(혼합음료)

  Another provision of Korean law is the Food Sanitation Act, which defines honhab-eumlio as "processed by adding food or food additives to drinking water or animal and vegetable ingredients."

 This is a kind of beverage in which raw water is taken from groundwater or tap water, and then various synthetic additives such as minerals are added to purified water that has filtered salt through filtration and refining processes.

  These mixed drinks (honhab-eumlyo) are authorized to be managed and supervised by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety because it is important to determine the harmfulness of purified water and synthetic additives added.
   

 

 

 

 3. The difference between 'meogneun-saemmul' and 'honhab-eumlyo'.

 The problem in the case of "meogneun-saemmul", only minimal physical treatment such as removal of foreign substances contained in raw water, sedimentation, filtration, and optical sterilization using ultraviolet light is allowed but not chemical methods. Since there are 50 inspection items, including microorganisms and harmful inorganic substances, that can be reliable in water quality management.

 

However, in the case of "honhab-eumlyo(혼합음료)" unlike "meognunsaemmul(먹는샘물)," only eight items were tested for raw water before water purification treatment, so many bacteria were detected or excessive detection of harmful substances occurred several times.

 

Of course, several additional inspections and water quality enhancement methods have been made for companies that manufacture "honhab-eumlio(혼합음료)," but "honhab-eumlio(혼합음료)" has less confidence in water quality than "meonneun-saemmul(먹는샘물)".

 

 

 

How to distinguish between "meonneun-saemul" and "honhab-eumlyo"

  So, an easy way to distinguish between "meonneun-saemmul" and "honhab-eumlio" at the mart is to check the label attached to the plastic bottle containing bottled water.

 

  The label contains all information of the bottled water, including the item name  product name, and where the water was taken from. Among all of them,you must  check the "품목명"(pummogmyeong) or the "item name".

 

 The meaning of "pummogmyong" refers to the function, use, or nature of an object prescribed by law, and is also called "Line item" in English.

It says "먹는샘물(Meogneun-saemmul)" on the label.

 

 

  Even if it is the same bottled water product(생수 =saengsu), the application law is different in the item name of the product, so the item name of the product must be listed as "먹는샘물(meognun-saemmul)" or "혼합음료(honhab-eumlyo)" depending on the approved Line item.

 

 

It says "혼합음료(honhab-eumlyo)" on the label.

 

  It is impossible to say which one is better between drinking spring water (meogneun-saemmul) and mixed drink (honhab-eumlyo). But in terms of management standards, drinking spring water (meogneun-saemmul)  is more safely managed for the purpose of 'drinking water'. It can be considered as a product. 

 

 

 Therefore, if you are looking for natural spring water, 'meogneun-saemmul' should be used, and if you prefer quality for the price, you should look for bottled water that is specified as "honhab-eumlyo." 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions about life in Korea or in Korea, 

please leave a comment. 

I will update the article with questions.