Korea Customs Service Holds Clearance of Unidentified International Mail and Express Cargo

In Case of Emergency Customs Clearance Strengthening Measures

On the 22nd, the Korea Customs Service announced that it is implementing emergency customs clearance reinforcement measures for unidentified international mail and express shipments (overseas delivery parcels).

On the 20th, firefighters are inspecting a suspicious poison package at a welfare facility for the disabled in Dong-gu, Ulsan City. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korea Customs Service will immediately withhold customs clearance for international mail and express cargo reported to the police and having the same or similar sender and dispatch information. If X-ray inspection confirms that the contents are empty scam shipments, they will be returned.

The Korea Customs Service stated, "There are cases where overseas sellers randomly send mail or express shipments with no product value or contents to unspecified domestic addresses in order to inflate sales performance or other purposes." Considering that the unidentified international mail was brought in in a form similar to such scam shipments, if confirmed as scam shipments, they are cooperating with the Korea Post and express delivery companies to return them overseas.

The Korea Customs Service advised not to open parcels that were not ordered by the recipient or sent from unrelated sources.