"Japanese Seafood Disguised as Thai" Scallop Importer Caught for Mislabeling

An importer who disguised Japanese scallops as Thai products and brought them into the country has been caught by customs authorities.

On November 25, Busan Main Customs of the Korea Customs Service and the Busan Regional Office of Food and Drug Safety announced that they had apprehended Mr. A (in his 60s, a domestic importer) and Mr. B (in his 60s, a Thai exporter) on charges of violating the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control, the Customs Act, the FTA Special Act, and the Act on Labeling Origin of Agricultural and Fishery Products. Both individuals have been referred to the prosecution.

Mr. A and Mr. B are accused of disguising frozen Japanese scallop adductor muscles as Thai products and importing them into Korea.

Busan Customs and the Busan Regional Office of Food and Drug Safety obtained information that Japanese seafood was being imported via Thailand. They conducted genetic testing on scallop adductor muscles declared as Thai imports and confirmed that the products were actually species collected in Japan.

The joint investigation found that Mr. A exploited two factors: the recent decline in domestic demand for Japanese seafood and the fact that Thai seafood can receive a 20% tariff reduction under the Korea-ASEAN FTA. Between September last year and April this year, Mr. A disguised a total of 26 tons of Japanese scallop adductor muscles (worth approximately 1.1 billion won) as Thai products and imported them into Korea across 15 separate shipments.

It was revealed that Mr. B exported the mislabeled products at higher prices than other products in exchange for changing the country of origin from Japan to Thailand.

Busan Customs and the Busan Regional Office of Food and Drug Safety conducted a search and seizure of Mr. A, and then carried out an on-site investigation of Mr. B's processing plant, securing evidence to substantiate the entire criminal act.

Officials from both agencies stated, "We will expand testing to verify the species of scallops imported from Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, strengthen crackdowns on violations of origin labeling, and request export governments to submit certificates of origin."

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