Seoul City Conducts Nationwide Crackdown on Counterfeit Goods... 137 Illegal Distributors Criminally Charged

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit (Civil Unit) announced on the 7th that from January to December this year, it conducted a comprehensive crackdown on trademark infringement activities in areas such as Dongdaemun and Namdaemun Markets, and Myeongdong, resulting in the identification and criminal indictment of 137 illegal sellers of counterfeit products of famous brands.

The sellers caught by the Seoul Civil Unit were found to be selling or storing products with counterfeit famous brand trademarks, and the total number of seized items amounted to 7,731, which, when converted to estimated genuine product prices, amounts to approximately 6.1 billion KRW.

By category, there were 2,674 accessories (1.69 billion KRW), 2,603 clothing items (1.63 billion KRW), 500 bags (1.49 billion KRW), 1,041 wallets (870 million KRW), and 913 other miscellaneous goods such as belts and scarves (440 million KRW).

Producing, selling, and storing counterfeit products is a criminal act that causes significant damage to others' property and credit, punishable under Article 230 of the Trademark Act by imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million KRW.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government urged citizens to actively report and provide tips when they discover sellers of counterfeit products. Seo Young-gwan, head of the Seoul Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit, stated, “We will further strengthen crackdowns to enhance Seoul’s image and establish a sound commercial order,” and added, “We also ask citizens to purchase genuine products and actively report any discoveries of counterfeit goods.”