Illegal Mask Exports Crackdown: 730,000 Units Seized in One Week

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Amid the mask shortage caused by COVID-19, 730,000 health masks were caught by customs authorities during illegal export attempts within the past week.

The Korea Customs Service announced on the 13th that it had conducted intensive crackdowns on illegal mask exports overseas from the 6th to the 12th in response to the COVID-19 situation, achieving these results.

The total number of illegal export cases was 72. Among the detected cases, the Customs Service has already canceled the export of 62 cases (100,000 masks) by refusing simplified customs clearance.

Additionally, for 10 other cases (630,000 masks), the Customs Service is investigating illegal export suspicions such as secretly loading the masks into general export cargo (6 cases) or hiding them in personal belongings (4 cases).

The 11 individuals caught in the 10 suspected illegal mask export cases include 6 Chinese nationals and 5 Koreans.

They are suspected of smuggling more masks than declared in export reports (underreporting quantities), smuggling without any export declaration (undeclared export), or disguising their export declarations by using others’ simplified export declaration documents (false declaration).

Some are also accused of attaching KF (Korea Filter) certification marks to products that have not been certified by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, attempting to export these products under false pretenses.

A Customs Service official stated, “We plan to investigate whether those caught for illegal mask exports have additional offenses or accomplices,” and added, “Seized goods will be promptly supplied domestically to stabilize supply.”

Meanwhile, the Customs Service recognizes mask quantities under 300 pieces and under 2 million KRW as for personal use, requires simplified declaration for 301 to 1,000 pieces under 2 million KRW, and mandates formal export declarations for quantities exceeding 1,000 pieces or 2 million KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.