On June 10, 2026, Korean media outlet Korea Economic Daily reported, "As the unauthorized cultivation of fruit and vegetable varieties developed by Japan spreads in China, South Korea, and other countries, the Japanese government is intensifying its efforts to protect intellectual property rights and secure royalty income."

The article, under the headline "South Korea stole Shine Muscat... What an outraged Japan did," quoted reports from Japanese media, stating, "A specialized agency for the protection of new varieties will be established by public and private sectors, with a target of August this year." To address the issue of domestic varieties like Shine Muscat flowing overseas, the agency will undertake the management of "plant breeders' rights," which are intellectual property rights related to new varieties, entrusted by public research institutions and local governments, and will be responsible for rights protection both domestically and internationally. Furthermore, it will monitor unauthorized cultivation overseas and take legal action if intellectual property infringement is confirmed.

Beyond mere rights protection, the agency will also promote the overseas dissemination of superior domestic varieties. It aims to establish a system that returns royalty income obtained from overseas use to variety development institutions, reinvesting it in the development of next-generation varieties.

The article points out, "Behind Japan's decision to take these measures is the case of Shine Muscat." Shine Muscat, developed by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), saw its seedlings flow out to China and South Korea in the past, leading to large-scale cultivation in both countries. As of 2022, the cultivation area in China was approximately 73,700 hectares, reaching about 30 times the scale of Japan.

According to estimates by the Japanese government, the economic loss, based on the royalties that would have been earned if formal licensing agreements had been concluded, exceeds 10 billion yen annually. The cultivation area is also expanding in South Korea, intensifying competition with Japanese-produced Shine Muscat.

In response to this article, Korean internet users left comments such as: "Why didn't they apply for a patent overseas and instead donated it to other countries?", "The culprit is probably the Japanese government for not taking necessary measures from the start," "It's too late now. It's like 'making ropes after seeing a thief'," "It's fine, I won't eat it anymore," "It's been a while since it lost its popularity, hasn't it?", "As more people cultivated Shine Muscat because it was profitable, more people also stopped adhering to cultivation standards. When competition intensified, they started shipping even unripe ones. Because of that, people started saying it tastes 'bad'."

On the other hand, there were also comments like, "Hallabong from Jeju Island originated from Kumamoto's Dekopon, and Korean confectionery makers have extensively imitated Japanese confectionery. Yet, when Nissin released a product similar to Buldak Bokkeum-myeon, they made a fuss, claiming it was 'stolen.' It's rather embarrassing." (Translated and edited by Asa-e)