Online retailers under fire for listing hanbok as hanfu

South Korean shopping platforms including Coupang and Naver carry listings that label hanbok, Korea’s traditional attire, as hanfu, a traditional Chinese style of dress, Sungshin Women’s University professor Seo Kyung-duk said Sunday.

In a Facebook post, Seo also named Gmarket and 11st, saying sellers on major Korean marketplaces had used the two terms interchangeably.

He called on the platforms to monitor third-party listings and ensure sellers clearly distinguish between the garments.

“Hanbok and hanfu are distinctly different types of clothing,” Seo said. “Even though these online retailers mostly only provide platforms for sellers, they should have taken care to prevent such cases through consistent monitoring.”

Seo said sellers could continue to offer Chinese-style clothing, urging them to label it accurately. He argued that using the terms interchangeably lends credence to claims circulating online that hanbok originated from hanfu.

The call came two days after Seo flagged similar listings on AliExpress. He said he had received tips from Koreans living overseas that the Chinese marketplace was grouping hanbok together with hanfu. He urged AliExpress to put the two garments in separate categories so shoppers could tell them apart.

The two labels have appeared together on other global marketplaces as well. In December 2025, YTN reported that some sellers on Amazon had labeled hanfu as hanbok. In February 2024, the broadcaster also reported that hanfu appeared under a category labeled “Chinese hanbok” on AliExpress and Temu.

Seo said Friday he planned to work with Koreans overseas to identify and seek corrections to misleading listings for Korean cultural products on major international shopping sites.