SOUTH KOREA FINDS ‘MADE IN KOREA’ BREACHES TO BYPASS TARIFFS – Korea Customs Service found 29.5 billion won worth of violations from the first quarter
South Korea has found increased attempts to disguise foreign products as Korean exports, primarily from China, to avoid U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, its customs agency said.
The Korea Customs Service (KCS) said it has found 29.5 billion won worth of violations related to country of origin from the first quarter, with U.S.-bound shipments accounting for 97% of the total, after a special probe last month. That compared to a total of 34.8 billion won worth of violations for all of 2024, among which U.S.-bound shipments accounted for 62%.
“We plan to strengthen enforce preventive measures against potential cases where countries with higher tariffs than South Korea may have sufficient incentive to reroute shipments through Korea,” said Lee Kwang-woo, investigation planning director at the KCS.
The KCS showed mattresses and cathode materials for lithium batteries from China as some of the illegally disguised items.
Anticipating increased risks, authorities conducted the latest investigation preemptively to prevent illegal exports. They have already found signs of such attempts to avoid Trump’s tariffs from the first quarter, Lee said.
The KCS has launched a special task force to prevent attempts to illegally export such goods and plans to come up with more specific response measures to protect domestic companies. Meanwhile, the violations discovered will be referred to prosecutors.
