Seoul Special Judicial Police Refer 9 Suspects for Manufacturing and Selling Unlicensed Korean Herbal Medicines

Oriental medicine doctors, manufacturing technicians, and raw material processors conspired... Illegal manufacturing, distribution, and sales
31 billion KRW worth of unlicensed Korean herbal medicines such as liver detox pills and metabolic disease treatments sold to 8,000 people

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Life Judicial Police Unit announced on the 19th that it has arrested nine members of a group, including an oriental medicine doctor, who manufactured and sold unlicensed oriental medicine products, known as liver detoxification pills, worth about 3.1 billion KRW to over 8,000 consumers nationwide from January 2019 to April 2021, and referred them to the prosecution on charges of violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.

The group caught this time officially opened an oriental medicine clinic in Gangnam-gu in May 2019 and cleverly evaded the law by establishing an external decoction facility attached to the clinic, where herbal medicine was professionally prepared according to the prescriptions of the oriental medicine doctor, and directly manufacturing and selling liver detoxification pills.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government stated that the liver detoxification pills mainly sold by them were advertised as having "special effects on liver detoxification" and were sold at high prices of 240,000 KRW to 300,000 KRW per box. The sales volume was about 13,000 boxes, with sales amounting to approximately 2.8 billion KRW, and most of the buyers were elderly people. Additionally, from June 2019 to April 2020, they received capsule products of unknown origin and disguised them as oriental medicine products beneficial for "metabolic diseases and autoimmune diseases," selling products worth about 330 million KRW. Manufacturing and selling unlicensed oriental medicine products illegally is punishable under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act by imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million KRW.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government urged citizens to report and tip off any pharmaceutical-related crimes such as illegal sales of unlicensed medicines through the Seoul city website. When contributing to the public interest by reporting or tipping off criminal acts with decisive evidence, rewards of up to 200 million KRW are provided according to the ordinance.

Kang Ok-hyun, head of the Seoul Civil Life Judicial Police Unit, said, "We urge citizens to visit oriental medicine clinics directly to receive diagnosis, prescription, and preparation from oriental medicine doctors when taking herbal medicine, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government will do its best to eradicate illegal manufacturing and sales of unlicensed medicines that threaten public health."

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