Seafood Origin Labeling Inspection for Two Weeks Before Chuseok Starting from the 6th

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Local Governments, Coast Guard, and Over 2,000 Honorary Monitors Deployed

Up to 7 Years Imprisonment for False Origin Labeling
Enhanced Penalties Up to 10 Years for Repeated Offenses Within 5 Years

As the Japanese government decided to discharge a large amount of radioactive contaminated water generated from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident into the sea, concerns and worries among our citizens have continued. The photo shows seafood with origin labels at a store in Noryangjin Fish Market, Seoul, on April 14./Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 5th that it will deploy about 2,000 personnel over two weeks from the 6th to the 17th to conduct special inspections and crackdowns on seafood origin labeling. This is to prevent illegal distribution of major Chuseok seasonal products and to alleviate public concerns following the Japanese government's decision to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

The inspection will involve 730 enforcement personnel, including special judicial police officers from the National Fisheries Products Quality Management Service, investigation officials from city/provincial and city/county/district levels nationwide, and the coast guard. Additionally, 1,352 honorary seafood monitors, including consumer groups, will participate.

The main items to be inspected include gulbi (dried yellow corvina), myeongtae (pollock), octopus, sea bream species, squid, galchi (hairtail, for ancestral rites and gifts), chamdom (red sea bream), garibi (scallops, with increased import volume), meongge (sea squirts), hong-eo (skate), nakji (small octopus), and baemjangeo (eel, with increasing frequency of origin labeling violations). Inspections will cover seafood manufacturing, distribution, and sales companies, restaurants, traditional markets, and online sales businesses.

In particular, major imported seafood such as chamdom, garibi, and meongge will be intensively inspected, focusing on import, distribution, and retail companies registered in the distribution history management system. Violations such as failure to label origin, incorrect labeling methods, and false labeling will be thoroughly checked. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries manages 17 imported seafood items by designating them and receiving transaction reports at each distribution stage from import customs clearance onward.

If caught falsely labeling the origin, offenders face imprisonment of up to 7 years or fines up to 100 million won. Failure to label will result in fines ranging from 50,000 won to 10 million won. Especially, if false labeling occurs more than twice within 5 years, aggravated punishment applies, including imprisonment from 1 to 10 years or fines ranging from 5 million won to 150 million won.

Kim Jun-seok, Director of Fisheries Policy at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "Through inspections, we will create a virtuous cycle where seafood sellers transparently label origins and consumers can purchase with confidence." He urged, "The public should always check origin labels when purchasing seafood and actively report suspicious cases through the KakaoTalk channel 'Seafood Origin Labeling'."

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