30-second overview: In July 2023, Kim Bong-san filmed his first life video after settling in Taiwan at Tonghua Night Market, going from rejecting stinky tofu to not wanting to share papaya milk with friends. Three years later, he partnered with RT-Mart to place Korean-style meals, spicy stir-fried chicken, and protein meals in convenience stores. This isn’t simply a Korean food collaboration—it’s the process of a settler turning “what I eat here” into “what we can buy on the street corner.”
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, by bryan..., taken on July 31, 2022 in Beigang, Yunlin, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.1
On July 29, 2023, Kim Bong-san ate stinky tofu and grilled squid at Tonghua Night Market, marking his first life video shoot after settling in Taiwan. The most surprising thing that day wasn’t the savory snacks, but a cup of papaya milk—he found the taste so good he even said he wanted to bring it back to South Korea to sell.2
This scene is small, yet perfectly illustrates Kim Bong-san’s perspective in Taiwan. He isn’t a tourist who films a few “foreigner first impressions” and leaves. Instead, he takes what he eats and brings it back into his own life, then edits his life back into the channel. Even more special is that, years later, he truly connected his hometown flavors with daily life in Taiwan—the connection wasn’t through restaurants, but through the refrigerated cases at RT-Mart.
📝 Curator’s note: Kim Bong-san’s story isn’t “a South Korean introducing Taiwan,” but “a settler changed by Taiwan, who then rewrites the convenience-store choices of Taiwanese people.”
First Leaving South Korea, Then Coming to “Live in Taiwan”
Kim Bong-san posted his video “I’ve Decided to Move to Taiwan!!” in April 2023. The video itself didn’t specify the relocation date, and it was only later revealed through Instagram Q&A that he had indeed planned to settle in Taiwan, possibly by the end of that year or early the next.3
This gap in time is worth preserving. Online articles often write “announced he’s coming” as “already moved,” but immigration isn’t completed by simply publishing a post. DailyView’s coverage recorded that he still had matters to handle in South Korea and that he planned to visit Taiwan once a month.3
By July of the same year, MTV News reported that he had already settled in Taiwan. When asked about his reasons, he mentioned that he first got to know Taiwan through films as a child, and the warmth of people he felt on his first visit matched his imagination. He said: “People were incredibly kind to me, making me feel warm even in a foreign land.”2
Of course, this is his personal feeling toward Taiwan, not a universal experience for all immigrants, nor can it be used to label Taiwan as “everyone is warm.” But it explains why his channel could shift from fitness and comedy to a more long-term life record: Taiwan was no longer just the backdrop of his videos, but a place where he decided to put his work, relationships, and future.
What He Films Isn’t Tourist Taiwan, But a Reproducible Life in Taiwan
Kim Bong-san’s channel combines fitness, eating, language switching, and married life in the same frame. This kind of content doesn’t rely on one-time scenic spots, but on “what will happen next” to keep viewers engaged. The channel’s public page shows that he has long been identified by his South Korean background, Chinese communication, and daily life documentation.4
From travel videos in Taipei and Kaohsiung in 2023 to later buying a house in Taiwan, his geographic location gradually shifted from filming locations to the cost of living. This change also made his Taiwan narrative go beyond just “Taiwanese people are friendly”: whether to buy a house, whether loans can be secured, and how much decoration costs—all are issues that immigrants can’t simply cover in a travel clip.
A report from January 2026 pointed out that he and his wife Jooni discussed living in South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan for over a year before ultimately choosing Taiwan as their residence. He described Taipei housing prices as very high and mentioned that decoration costs might be twice as much as in South Korea.5
Here we see the first contrast: the reason he stayed was “it feels comfortable to live here,” but after actually staying, he faced high housing prices, decoration, and loans. Liking a place and bearing the cost of a place have never been the same thing.
Buying a House Turns “Immigration” from Emotion into System
In June 2026, Sanli News Network reported that he bought his first house in Taipei. The report stated the house was 17 years old, and he negotiated with the landlord for over four hours before running around multiple banks to handle the loan.6
He said he and his wife spent a year thinking about where to live, considering Australia, South Korea, and Taiwan, and ultimately chose Taiwan, which felt the most comfortable to live in. He also recalled his childhood of living in a small apartment with five family members, sharing a single watermelon and the remaining soup, describing that period as “from poor to rich.”6
Buying a house didn’t turn the story into a success manual. On the contrary, his foreigner status made loan processing more difficult, with banks requiring Taiwanese guarantors—a condition that nearly drove him to collapse before finally finding a bank willing to approve the loan.6
This is an important but less viral part of Kim Bong-san’s content: immigrants can be attracted by the street food flavors of Taiwan and can genuinely feel that Taiwan is suitable for living, but they still have to face the barriers of identity, financial systems, and the housing market.
📝 Curator’s note: “It feels comfortable to live here” is a feeling, while “whether the loan can be approved” is a systemic issue. Kim Bong-san’s life in Taiwan is precisely taking shape between the two.
From One Cup of Papaya Milk to a Set of 11 Products
On March 10, 2026, RT-Mart announced a collaboration with Kim Bong-san, launching 11 Korean fresh food and baked goods, with the event running until May 26. The collaboration included Korean-style beef meals, seaweed rice rolls with spicy stir-fried chicken, Korean chicken breast protein meals, as well as Korean-style soft-boiled eggs, spicy chicken wings, and various breads.7
This isn’t just printing his name on an existing product. Reports described the collaboration as “personally developed and supervised,” and the series was divided into three lines: street food staples, fitness protein meals, and morning baked goods.7
Another collaboration report listed specific prices: Korean-style beef meal at NT$99, spicy stir-fried chicken rice roll at NT$59, chicken breast protein meal at NT$99, caramel milk bread at NT$35, and garlic cheese bread at NT$42.7 These prices and items are based on information from reports in March 2026 and cannot be directly used as current inventory or pricing at every store.
United Daily News described his channel scale as “over 900,000 subscribers” and pointed out that the collaboration extended from street food staples and protein meals to morning baked goods.8 This scale meant that RT-Mart wasn’t just looking for someone who could make videos, but someone who could turn food into life memories.
Putting Korean-style meals in convenience stores doesn’t mean replicating a Korean restaurant in Taiwan. The logic of convenience stores is fast, decentralized, and individually purchasable. For Kim Bong-san, what could be transformed wasn’t the big label of “Korea,” but several tangible units: seasoned rice, rice rolls, chicken breast, bread, and a breakfast combo from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.7
This collaboration also arranged different meal times on the same shelf map. Lunch could be a NT$99 Korean-style meal or protein meal, between afternoon and evening you could buy a NT$59 spicy stir-fried chicken rice roll, and in the morning there’s a breakfast combo of bread and drinks from 06:00 to 09:00. These are channel designs, not a complete reflection of Korean cuisine, but they gave “Korean flavor” a schedule in the convenience store.7
From the creator’s perspective, the 11 products have another meaning. They organized the three types of content originally scattered in the channel into a set of structures that consumers can identify: fitness corresponds to chicken breast protein meals, Korean daily life corresponds to meals and rice rolls, and Taiwanese breakfast habits correspond to bread and morning combos. Reports also pointed out that the collaboration wasn’t limited to savory snacks but also included baked goods.7 9
📝 Curator’s note: What was actually put on the shelves wasn’t the word “Korea,” but several life moments that the creator repeatedly filmed and that viewers kept watching.
The Risk of Collaboration: Authenticity Isn’t Just a Marketing Slogan
Collaboration copy often uses words like “authentic Korean flavor” or “authentic,” but whether the food tastes like home can’t be determined by the creator’s endorsement alone. The flavor has to go through compromises in the Taiwan supply chain, shelf life, heating methods, and store sales conditions, and also face consumer judgments on spiciness, sweetness, and portion size.
Therefore, the truly verifiable part of these products is which items were launched, when they were sold, what the prices were, and who was described as the developer supervisor. As for “perfect restoration” or “authentic,” these belong to the language of reporting and promotion and should not be rewritten as objective measurement results. The reporting on RT-Mart’s collaboration is mostly brand information, not independent blind taste tests or nutritional evaluations.7 8 9
The protein meals are no exception. They can be positioned as options for fitness enthusiasts, but it doesn’t mean they are necessarily suitable for everyone’s dietary needs, and the creator’s fitness image can’t be taken as medical or nutritional advice. What the article can say is that the collaboration translated fitness content into a product category, but it can’t guarantee the effects beyond the source of the goods.
This is exactly where creator commercial collaborations need to be clarified. When creators participate in product development, social trust becomes part of the product, but trust doesn’t automatically replace ingredient lists, food labels, and the consumer’s own judgment.
What He Leaves Behind Isn’t Just “A South Korean Looking at Taiwan”
From the fan welcome recorded by DailyView, to MTV News’ coverage of Tonghua Night Market, to buying a house and RT-Mart collaboration, Kim Bong-san’s content gradually moved away from the single format of “foreigner’s reaction.”2 3
Early on, viewers wanted to see how he reacted to stinky tofu, papaya milk, and night markets. Later, viewers also began to watch how he dealt with Taiwan’s housing, banks, marriage, and work. These topics aren’t necessarily easier, but they are closer to the real issues that people face after living in a place for two or three years.
His South Korean identity remains the entry point, Chinese communication and humor are the methods, and fitness is his personal emblem. But what truly makes the content last is that he didn’t keep Taiwan forever in the moment of “first coming.” People on their first visit are surprised that papaya milk tastes good, but those who settle down must decide whether to buy a house here, and even think about whether hometown flavors can be placed on these shelves.
📝 Curator’s note: The most interesting turning point for immigrants isn’t that they learned to speak a few words in Chinese, but that they began to take responsibility for the future of a city.
Conclusion: The Korean Flavors on the Shelf Are Still a Story of Living in Taiwan
Kim Bong-san’s story can be simplified into a neat line: a South Korean YouTuber moves to Taiwan, accumulates viewers on his channel, and finally launches a convenience store collaboration. But this kind of writing would miss the most important friction in the middle: there’s a wait between announcing immigration and actually moving, a housing loan between liking Taiwan and bearing the cost of Taipei, and product development between hometown flavors and convenience stores.
In 2023, he imagined papaya milk at Tonghua Night Market as a flavor he could bring back to South Korea. In 2026, Korean-style meals, spicy stir-fried chicken, and protein meals appeared on RT-Mart shelves in Taiwan.2 7
Between these two scenes, there’s no standard answer for “finally blending into Taiwan.” There’s only a person who brought the things he liked into a new life, and then redefined what hometown flavors mean in this new life.
He didn’t bring Korea to Taiwan; he made Taiwan the place where he could reinvent Korean flavors.
Extended Reading
References
- Wikimedia Commons: Papaya Milk and Watermelon Milk at Beigang, Yunlin, Taiwan — Photo taken on July 31, 2022 in Beigang, Yunlin, by bryan..., file page confirms CC BY-SA 2.0 license.↩
- MTV News Net: South Korean influencer announces “moving to Taiwan,” reveals what attracted him to immigrate — July 2023 report on Kim Bong-san’s first video after settling in at Tonghua Night Market, and his reasons for immigrating based on Taiwan’s human warmth.↩234
- DailyView: Moved to tears by fans’ handwritten letters! Popular South Korean YouTuber Kim Bong-san surprises and confirms plans to settle in Taiwan — April 2023 compilation of YouTube announcement video and Instagram Q&A, distinguishing between “announcing arrival” and actual moving time.↩23
- Kim Bong-san YouTube Channel Video Page — The creator’s own public channel page, showing channel name, video categories, and self-positioning based on South Korean background and life documentation.↩
- ETtoday Star Cloud: 930,000 South Korean YTR buys house in Taiwan, reveals reasons — January 2026 report on Kim Bong-san and his wife’s discussion of residence, buying a house, and Taipei housing prices and decoration costs.↩
- Sanli News Network: After settling in Taiwan for 2 years, buys a house! 930,000 South Korean influencer reveals how difficult loans are — June 2026 report on the purchase of a 17-year-old house, negotiation time, foreigner status, and loan conditions.↩23
- SunRiseSharing by Jiuyou Media: Authentic Korean flavors right on the street corner! RT-Mart x Kim Bong-san launches 11 new products — March 2026 collaboration article, listing 11 series items, product prices, event duration, and morning combo information.↩2345678
- Economic Daily News: RT-Mart teams up with South Korean influencer Kim Bong-san — March 2026 channel report, cross-confirming collaboration themes, descriptions of over 900,000 subscribers, and product line coverage.↩2
- Lih Pao Media: RT-Mart kicks off the new year with Kim Bong-san in stores — March 2026 report on the collaboration’s street food staples, protein meals, and morning baked goods, marking RT-Mart’s provided images and information sources.↩2
