South Korea Finds Increase in Chinese-Origin Goods Marked as Korean
South Korea's Customs Service has discovered a sharp uptick in country of origin violations for goods headed to the U.S., it announced in an April 21 press release.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
These goods, primarily coming from China, are disguised as Korean exports to avoid tariffs on Chinese-origin goods. The Korean Customs Service said that it has found $20.8 million worth of country of origin violations in the first three months of 2025. Of these violations, 97% were bound for the U.S.
That compares with $24.5 million worth of violations for all of 2024, of which 62% were U.S. bound.
South Korea established a special investigation to look for customs violations in March, anticipating such a rise as President Donald Trump's tariffs came into effect. The probe was intended to prevent a "loss of national confidence in Korea and damage to domestic industry," the Korean Customs Service said.