Korea Customs Service "140,000 Counterfeit Items Seized During Peak Season of Overseas Direct Purchases"

During China's Guanggunje and US Black Friday
Crackdown on direct purchases of luxury jewelry
84% of counterfeit earrings
Detected cadmium up to 930 times higher

During a focused crackdown on intellectual property rights violations conducted during major overseas discount events such as China's Singles' Day, 140,000 counterfeit items were seized. Some counterfeit products, including luxury jewelry, were found to contain carcinogens such as lead and cadmium at levels exceeding the standard by up to 930 times.

The Korea Customs Service announced on the 24th that a total of 142,930 counterfeit items were seized during the focused crackdown from November 6 to December 1 last year. The crackdown was carried out across all import clearance sectors, including express delivery, postal, and general imports, during discount events such as China's Singles' Day and the U.S. Black Friday.

By quantity, the seized items were mainly clothing (40%), stationery (16%), accessories (14%), keychains (8%), bags (5%), toys (2%), and shoes and wallets (each 2%).

The Korea Customs Service, noting that items such as earrings, bags, and watches come into direct contact with the skin and may be imported without properly meeting safety standards, also conducted safety standard analyses on 83 counterfeit products at the Customs Central Analysis Laboratory.

As a result, lead and cadmium exceeding safety standards by at least 2 times and up to 930 times were detected in 25 products.

In particular, among 24 counterfeit earrings of popular overseas luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Chanel, cadmium was detected in 20 items (83%), and among these, 3 contained lead exceeding the standard, according to the Korea Customs Service.

Of the 20 earrings with detected cadmium, 15 contained cadmium at levels exceeding 60% of the total composition (600 times the standard), including products with up to 92.95% cadmium content (930 times the standard).

Based on this, the Korea Customs Service emphasized that cadmium was not merely used as a surface treatment but was a main component in the manufacturing process of these products.

The large amounts of lead and cadmium detected in metal jewelry products are substances classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as possibly carcinogenic to humans. For example, lead poisoning can cause diseases affecting the renal, central nervous, digestive, and reproductive systems, while cadmium is known to cause Itai-itai disease, which occurred in Japan.

Among the counterfeit products seized during the crackdown, 462 items included domestic brand products such as Kakao keychains, Samsung earphones, and Amorepacific cosmetics, in addition to overseas luxury brand products.

This indicates that intellectual property infringement damage is not limited to overseas luxury brands but is also occurring in domestic brands that have gained popularity abroad.

The Korea Customs Service stressed that counterfeit domestic brand products imported could be falsely sold as genuine products within Korea, urging consumers to exercise special caution.

A Korea Customs Service official expressed concern, saying, “Recently, there is a trend among young people to view purchasing luxury counterfeit goods as a smart consumption choice. However, the distribution and consumption of counterfeit products pose serious problems beyond intellectual property infringement, as they can threaten public health.”

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