Privacy Policy

Taste Korean Food (tastekoreanfood.com) is operated by MMG International, based in the Republic of Korea. This policy explains what personal data the site collects, why it is collected, who else handles it, how long it is kept, and how to get it corrected or deleted.

It describes what the site actually does. Where we do something that has a privacy cost — analytics, social sign-in, servers outside Korea — it is named here rather than left to a generic phrase.

Effective August 13, 2026.

1. What we collect

You can read every article on this site without an account and without giving us anything but the technical data below.

Account data. If you create an account: your email address and a password, which is stored only as a cryptographic hash. If you sign in with Google or Facebook instead, we receive your email address, name, and profile picture from that provider — never your password there.
Profile data. A display name and, if you upload one, a profile image.
Content you submit. Community posts, comments, recipe and restaurant reviews including any rating, and editor applications. This content is published on the site with your display name and is visible to anyone.
Messages you send us. Your email address and whatever you write to us.
Technical and usage data. IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, time on page, and the site you arrived from — collected through Google Analytics 4, loaded via Google Tag Manager.

We do not collect government identification numbers, payment card details, health records, or any data about medical treatment. If a form on this site ever appears to ask you for those, do not fill it in and tell us at editor@tastekoreanfood.com.

2. Why we use it

To create and run your account and let you sign in.
To publish the content you choose to post, and to moderate it.
To reply when you write to us, including corrections you report.
To understand which articles are read and how people move through the site, so we can decide what to write and fix next.
To keep the site secure and to investigate abuse.

We do not sell personal data, we do not share it with data brokers, and we do not use it to build advertising profiles.

3. Legal grounds (for readers in the EU, EEA, and UK)

Performance of a contract — running the account you asked us to create and publishing what you post.
Consent — analytics cookies, which you can refuse or withdraw as described in section 6.
Legitimate interests — keeping the site available and secure, and understanding readership in aggregate.
Legal obligation — where we are required to retain or disclose something by law.

4. Who else handles your data

These are the service providers that process data on our behalf. Each one is used for the stated purpose only.

Vercel — hosts and serves the website. United States.
Cloudways / Vultr — hosts the WordPress backend that stores articles, accounts, and posted content. United States.
Google — Analytics and Tag Manager for usage measurement; Google Sign-In if you choose it.
Meta Platforms — Facebook Login if you choose it.
Amazon Web Services (SES) and ImprovMX — sending and receiving email from our domain.

5. Where your data goes

MMG International is based in the Republic of Korea, but the servers that run this site are in the United States, and Google and Meta process data in multiple countries. If you are in the EU, EEA, or UK, your data is therefore transferred outside your region. Those transfers rely on the standard contractual clauses and equivalent safeguards offered by each provider.

6. Cookies and analytics

The site sets cookies that are necessary for it to work — keeping you signed in, remembering your session — and analytics cookies set by Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager.

Analytics cookies are off until you accept them. On your first visit a banner asks; nothing is measured with cookies before you answer, and we do not run advertising cookies at all. You can change that answer at any time here: .

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and you can opt out of Google Analytics entirely using Google's browser add-on. Blocking necessary cookies will sign you out and may break parts of the site; blocking analytics cookies will not.

7. How long we keep it

Account and profile data — until you delete your account, after which it is removed.
Content you posted — stays published after account deletion unless you ask us to remove it, because other people's conversations may depend on it. Ask and we will take it down.
Email you send us — kept while we deal with it and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Analytics data — kept according to the retention period configured in Google Analytics, then deleted automatically.

8. Your rights

Wherever you are, you can ask us to show you the personal data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or stop using it. Depending on where you live you may also have the right to object to processing, to withdraw consent, to receive a copy in a portable format, or to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information — we do not sell or share it in the first place.

Write to editor@tastekoreanfood.com from the address on your account. We will not charge you for this and we will not make the service worse for you because you asked.

If you think we have handled your data badly, you can complain to your data protection authority. In Korea that is the Personal Information Protection Commission; in the EU, EEA, or UK it is the supervisory authority where you live.

9. Security

Passwords are stored as hashes, not as text. Traffic to the site is encrypted in transit. Access to the systems that hold personal data is limited to the people who run the site. No system is perfectly secure, and we will not claim otherwise — if a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the relevant authority as required by law.

10. Children

This site is written for adults and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly create accounts for children under 14 in Korea, under 13 in the United States, or under 16 in the EU, EEA, and UK. If you believe a child has given us personal data, tell us and we will delete it.

11. Changes to this policy

When this policy changes we update the effective date at the top. If a change materially affects how your data is used, we will say so on the site rather than change the text quietly.

12. Contact

Editorial & Privacy, Taste Korean Food — operated by MMG International, Republic of Korea.
editor@tastekoreanfood.com