Korean Couple Taste Global Success With Their Spicy Buldak Noodles

This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Korea’s Richest 2025. See the full list here.

Shares of Samyang Foods have been on the boil, up 265% over the past year, fueled by the raging popularity of its spicy Buldak (fire chicken in Korean) instant noodles. Their creator Kim Jung-soo is a newcomer this year with a fortune of $1.3 billion, which she shares with her husband Chun In-jang, the former chairman of the company.

Kim was a stay-at-home mom until 1998 when she joined the ramen giant founded by her father-in-law. Inspired by crowds at a Buldak restaurant in Seoul, Kim launched the spicy noodles in 2012. Sales took off after social media posts with K-pop icons, such as BTS, tucking into bowls of Buldak ramen went viral.

Samyang Foods reported a 45% year-on-year rise in revenue to 1.7 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in 2024 and a 114% jump in net profit to 271 billion won. Overseas sales, the bulk of which are from the U.S. and China, doubled during the same period, accounting for half of the total.

Kim and her husband faced the heat in 2020 when they were convicted of embezzling some 5 billion won of company funds. While Kim, who maintained her innocence, got a suspended sentence and was eventually pardoned, her husband served three years in prison but still faces a trial over alleged tax fraud, a charge he’s denied. Their son Jeffrey, a Columbia University grad, is being readied as her successor.