# A, a Chinese national, used South Korea as a transit point to evade the 1731.75% anti-dumping tariff imposed by the United States on Chinese mattresses last November. He imported 1.2 million Chinese mattresses (worth approximately 740 billion won) into a domestic company's bonded warehouse, then illegally exported them by falsifying export documents, including return declaration certificates and certificates of origin, as if they were South Korean products. Our customs authorities detected this illegal export activity in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSI).
# B imported high-performance semiconductors classified as strategic materials subject to export controls from the United States and South Korea and then illegally exported them to Hong Kong disguised as low-cost semiconductors. He established two paper companies in the country to facilitate exports and imports, manipulating the price to one-hundredth to evade detection.
The Korea Customs Service has strengthened cooperation and information sharing with the National Intelligence Service, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Customs and Border Protection Agency to conduct extensive monitoring of bypass exports. This is because goods subject to higher tariffs in countries with higher tariffs than South Korea may be disguised as 'domestic' and exported to the U.S., potentially leading to a decline in national trust and harm to domestic industries.
The Korea Customs Service has launched a Trade Security Special Investigation Team to respond to bypass exports and protect domestic industries. On the 21st, the customs service held a joint meeting with the private and public sectors on 'Bypassing Export Regulation for the Protection of Domestic Industries' at the Seoul Headquarters Customs and established a system for information sharing and cooperation.
The focus of the Korea Customs Service's intensive monitoring includes goods subjected to high tariffs, such as U.S. anti-dumping tariffs and mutual tariffs, as well as items subject to import regulations. These items are likely to be disguised as domestic products through illegal methods, such as label swapping and document forgery.
According to the Korea Customs Service, there were a total of 176 detected illegal bypass export activities over the past five years, amounting to 467.5 billion won. The main objectives of these illegal activities are identified as economic purposes, such as evading ▲ anti-dumping tariffs ▲ high tariff rates ▲ import regulations ▲ profit margins from South Korean products, as well as security objectives like the leakage of strategic materials and core technologies from the exporting country.
The Korea Customs Service believes that such attempts will increase due to the high tariffs imposed on Chinese products by the Trump administration. In fact, the amount detected from bypass exports to the U.S. until March of this year is 28.5 billion won, which is more than half of the annual detection total from the previous year.
The Trade Security Special Investigation Team aims to actively respond so that our corporations do not face difficulties by focusing on suppressing origin laundering, bypass exports, and attempts to leak technologies, as well as conducting pre-risk assessments, providing information on key strategic items, and offering support to businesses.
Koh Kwang-hyo, head of the Korea Customs Service, noted, 'In the past, there were many cases of counterfeiting origins targeting the premium of Korean products, but recently, due to changes in U.S. trade policy, bypass exports to evade mutual tariffs and import regulations have been increasing.' He added, 'We will actively respond to ensure that our corporations do not face difficulties.'