Seoul: South Korea's customs authorities announced plans to launch an eight-week crackdown on illegal overseas purchases ahead of Black Friday and other major sales events in the United States and China. The Korea Customs Service (KCS) aims to address illegal activities such as smuggling goods for resale and importing counterfeit or intellectual property-infringing items.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the special enforcement campaign will commence on Monday. It targets individuals and businesses exploiting the customs system by smuggling goods for commercial purposes or misusing customs identification numbers. The current regulations allow personal imports valued up to US$150, or $200 for goods from the U.S., to be exempt from customs duties and value-added taxes under simplified procedures.

The KCS highlighted the increasing issue of system exploitation, with expectations that overseas direct purchases could reach 200 million cases this year. Lee Myeong-ku, a KCS chief, emphasized the need to strengthen the crackdown on these illegal activities. The agency reported uncovering illegal overseas purchase cases valued at 80 billion won ($55.2 million) between January and September, marking a 32 percent increase from the same period last year.