Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Strengthens Special Inspections and Crackdowns on Seafood Origin Ahead of Kimjang Season

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 14th that it will deploy over 1,000 personnel for three weeks from the 15th of this month to the 3rd of next month to conduct special inspections and crackdowns on seafood origin labeling ahead of the kimchi-making season.

The main inspection targets are salted seafood such as saeujeot (fermented shrimp), myeolchi aekjeot (anchovy sauce), and kanari aekjeot (sand lance sauce), as well as salt types including refined salt and solar salt. Seafood in high demand during winter for sashimi, such as red sea bream, yellowtail, sea squirt, as well as shellfish like scallops, and fish such as herring and mackerel pike are also included in the inspection targets.

The inspection targets include major domestic salted seafood markets, seafood manufacturing, distribution, and sales companies, restaurants, traditional markets, and online sales businesses. In particular, imported seafood will be subject to focused inspections targeting companies registered in the distribution tracking system to check for unmarked origins, violations in labeling methods, and false labeling.

A total of 1,059 people will participate in this special inspection, including 177 special judicial police officers from the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service and 882 seafood honorary monitors including consumer groups. Local governments at the city, county, and district levels will also organize their own inspection teams centered on investigative officials.

Falsely labeling the origin will result in imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million won. Failure to label the origin will incur a fine ranging from 50,000 won to 10 million won.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to prepare and promulgate a revision of related laws to impose heavier fines on those who habitually fail to label origins or commit serious violations.

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