[2023 National Audit] "More than Half of Narcotics Sales Sites Blocked by Korea Customs Service Still Accessible"

Democratic Party Rep. Goyongjin's National Audit Data
"25 out of 47 Narcotics Sites Accessible"

More than half of the drug sales websites blocked at the request of the Korea Customs Service are still accessible.

According to data submitted by the Korea Customs Service to Go Yong-jin, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Seoul Nowon Gap), more than half of the drug sales websites requested to be blocked by the Korea Customs Service to the Korea Communications Standards Commission remain accessible.

The Korea Customs Service requests the Korea Communications Standards Commission to block websites when drug sales sites are identified during investigations of drug smuggling cases or internet site monitoring.

Democratic Party of Korea Representative Ko Yong-jin Photo by Yonhap News

Go Yong-jin's office explained, "When drug sales are discovered on online shopping platforms, the request to block is not made for the entire platform site to the Korea Communications Standards Commission, but rather a request is made to the platform operator to block the individual pages selling the drugs."

Over the past five years, the Korea Customs Service has requested the blocking of a total of 47 drug sales websites to the Korea Communications Standards Commission: 30 in 2019, 8 in 2020, 5 in 2022, and 4 in 2023. According to Go Yong-jin's office, 25 of these sites are still accessible.

In the past five years, 22 online shopping platform sites have been requested to be blocked. However, since online shopping platforms block individual product pages, if sellers relist the same products, anyone can purchase them again, making fundamental blocking impossible.

Go Yong-jin stated, "We must be vigilant about the continuously increasing drug crimes and enforce thorough management and supervision."

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