160,000 Defective Camping and Water Play Items Caught at Customs During Summer

Government Joint Planning and Crackdown Collaboration System Diagram. Provided by Korea Customs Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A large quantity of illegal and substandard camping and water play products intended to be brought into the country during the summer vacation season were caught in a joint government crackdown.

On the 11th, the Korea Customs Service announced that from June 10 to July 15, it conducted a focused safety inspection of summer vacation products together with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's National Institute of Technology and Standards, uncovering 160,000 items across 113 cases of illegal and substandard products.

The two agencies carried out a concentrated collaborative inspection targeting summer vacation products, which have seen increased demand due to the recent spread of infectious diseases and the rise of an 'untact vacation culture,' achieving results by blocking illegal and substandard products at the customs clearance stage.

The detected products mainly violated labeling requirements by either lacking safety certification, displaying false information, failing to mark according to safety standards, or having incorrect labels.

Examples of major cases of illegal and substandard summer vacation products seized by customs. Provided by Korea Customs Service (Source: Korea Product Safety Management Institute)

By item, camping goods such as portable fans, electric mosquito swatters, and LED lanterns (about 138,000 items), as well as water play equipment and life jackets (about 9,000 items) made up the majority. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Customs Service judged these products to pose risks of explosion in cases of overcharging, overdischarging, or short circuits.

The seized products have been either disposed of or returned to the exporting countries, effectively preventing their entry into the domestic market.

The two agencies plan to strengthen focused safety inspections at the customs clearance stage for products with seasonal import surges to prevent consumer harm caused by illegal and substandard products brought in without safety verification.

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