Korea Customs Service Proposes Korea-ASEAN Joint Drug Crackdown

The Korea Customs Service proposed joint drug enforcement operations to ASEAN customs authorities. Considering the increasing importation of illegal goods such as drugs, both sides reached a consensus on the necessity of joint enforcement and risk information exchange, aiming to explore ways to cooperate mutually.

Yoon Tae-sik, Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service (first on the right), is speaking at the 19th Korea-ASEAN Customs Commissioners Meeting. The meeting was held via video conference. Photo by Korea Customs Service

On the 7th, the Korea Customs Service announced that Commissioner Yoon Tae-sik attended the '19th Korea-ASEAN Customs Commissioners Meeting.'

The meeting, held via video conference, was attended by representatives from the customs authorities of Korea and the 10 ASEAN countries: Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Cambodia. It was organized to discuss major cooperation issues in the customs sector among customs authorities.

During the meeting, the Korea Customs Service presented key discussion items including ▲conducting joint Korea-ASEAN drug enforcement operations ▲sharing trends in new technology development in the customs sector through the Korea Customs Service’s own research and development (R&D) ▲dissemination of Korea’s e-commerce customs clearance system ▲and capacity-building project plans for customs officers between Korea and ASEAN.

Based on this, both sides agreed to establish detailed operational plans for joint Korea-ASEAN drug enforcement operations to block the rapidly increasing drug trade within the ASEAN region. The joint drug enforcement operations are targeted to be implemented in the second half of this year following practical discussions.

In particular, both sides are also exploring ways to strengthen the exchange of risk information by having Korea newly participate in the ‘Alert Notification System (ANS),’ a risk information exchange system currently operated in ASEAN for drugs, firearms, and other dangerous items.

Furthermore, they shared a mutual understanding to actively cooperate in building a ‘digital customs’ system by integrating new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain into customs administration, as well as to share experiences, operational cases, and improvement measures regarding emerging major customs issues such as the surge in e-commerce.

Additionally, the Korea Customs Service decided to further strengthen cooperation with ASEAN in capacity-building through development programs for developing countries during the meeting.

Lee Jin-hee, Director of the International Customs Cooperation Bureau at the Korea Customs Service, stated, “ASEAN is a key customs cooperation partner with whom Korea has active human exchanges and trade. However, recently, the importation of illegal goods such as drugs from ASEAN into Korea has been increasing. The Korea Customs Service plans to strengthen cooperation in crime response at the border through joint enforcement and risk information exchange.”

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