Korea, Japan seek closer customs cooperation on drugs, counterfeits
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Customs officials display seized counterfeit Mounjaro and other potentially harmful medicines brought into Korea from overseas ahead of a briefing on measures to strengthen controls against their illegal importation at Incheon Airport Customs’ import and export clearance office, Sept. 17. Yonhap
Korea and Japan are seeking to tighten customs cooperation on drug smuggling, counterfeit products and cross-border online shopping, as officials look to protect businesses and strengthen border security.
Korea Customs Service Commissioner Lee Jong-wook met with Mitsuhiro Teraoka, director-general of Japan’s Customs and Tariff Bureau, in Tokyo last week to discuss three areas of cooperation, the customs agency said Monday.
The meeting followed the 34th Korea-Japan Customs Chiefs’ Meeting in Seoul in April and was arranged separately to address pressing bilateral issues following Lee’s appointment.
One priority is protecting Korean and Japanese brands, including K-beauty products, from counterfeit goods.
Korea proposed closer enforcement cooperation between the two countries’ customs authorities and asked Japan to help Korean companies use its system for requesting customs authorities to block imports and exports of goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights.
The officials also discussed establishing a system to exchange intelligence on drug seizures and smuggling attempts, including detection methods and X-ray images, as well as the use of passenger information to prevent drugs from entering through international travelers.
Another focus is expanding cross-border e-commerce exports through Japan’s simplified customs clearance system for maritime express shipments, which allows qualifying goods ordered online and valued at no more than 10,000 yen to undergo streamlined import and tax declarations.
Korea asked Japan to help Korean businesses register as eligible operators and make greater use of the system.
On Friday, Lee also visited the World Customs Organization’s Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific, where he discussed joint operations and faster intelligence sharing to combat transnational crime.
“This visit to Japan will strengthen cooperation between the customs authorities of the two countries, ensure thorough protection of our key brands, including K-beauty, and provide full support for Korean companies’ cross-border e-commerce exports,” Lee said.
“We will also completely block narcotics from entering Korea at the border through a comprehensive international cooperation network,” he said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
