Storing terribly tasty kimchi

The following is a tip on traditional Korean language and customs in response to a query from a Mr. Dexter, who wrote to us from Seoul:

Q. Mr. Dexter:
After I told a Korean colleague that kimchi was my favorite food, his wife made some homemade kimchi for me. I left the kimchi jar, which was tightly wrapped inside layers of plastic bags, in my car for about half a day and took it home. The next day, my car smelled funny, and I realized that the odor came from the kimchi. A few days later, I found that my brand-new refrigerator had been spoiled by the kimchi smell.

What’s exactly in the kimchi that makes it smell so strongly? And what do Koreans do about it?

A. JoongAng Daily:
Fresh vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, radish, cucumber and/or green onions, are pickled in sea salt, then rinsed and soaked in traditional kimchi sauce or sun-dried red pepper powder and left to ferment at cool temperatures. It’s this lengthy process, and ingredients in the sauce such as garlic, onion and fermented fish sauce, that create such a pungent odor. Although most Koreans are used to the smell, they do keep kimchi in a separate section of the refrigerator equipped with a strong deodorizer, or use a refrigerator specially designed to store it.