"President Yoon's Gift Set for Sale"... Used Trade That Could Make You a Criminal If Done Wrong

Increase in Chuseok Gift Set Sales on Secondhand Trading Platforms
Illegal Secondhand Trading of Alcohol and Pharmaceuticals...Caution Advised

Trading of so-called 'holiday gift' sets received during Chuseok through secondhand trading platforms is becoming popular. However, caution is needed as not all gifts received can be traded.

Recently, a post titled "Selling President Yoon Suk-yeol's Chuseok gift set" was uploaded on a secondhand trading platform. The price is known to range from 200,000 KRW to a maximum of 300,000 KRW.

Earlier on the 4th, the Presidential Office delivered Chuseok gift sets containing traditional liquors such as bellflower root medicinal wine and citron medicinal wine, as well as local specialties like pear jam and cheonggyul hand cream to various figures. However, trading these may be illegal because the Presidential Office's gift sets include two bottles of traditional liquor.

Alcoholic beverages such as whiskey, wine, and non-alcoholic beer are difficult to trade on secondhand platforms even if received as holiday gifts. According to Article 5 of the Liquor Tax Act and Article 6 of the Act on the Punishment of Tax Offenses, individuals cannot sell liquor without a liquor sales license. If caught reselling without a license, one may face charges of unlicensed liquor sales and manufacturing, punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million KRW.

President Yoon Suk-yeol Chuseok Gift Set
[Image source: Provided by the Presidential Office]

Besides alcohol, pharmaceuticals such as herbal medicine and diet pills are restricted from secondhand trading under Article 44 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Items purchased from military, police, or military marts are also prohibited from secondhand trading. Regional love gift certificates and Onnuri gift certificates supported by the government for Chuseok are illegal to trade secondhand. Items supported by government or local government budgets, such as regional love gift certificates, Munhwa Nuri cards, Onnuri gift certificates, and energy vouchers, are prohibited from personal transactions under relevant laws.

It is also illegal to arbitrarily divide and sell bulk food or cosmetics. Selling bulk cosmetics divided into small containers without registering a cosmetics sales business violates the Cosmetics Act. Bulk food must also have a business license if divided and sold arbitrarily.

Health functional foods such as red ginseng and vitamins can only be sold online by registered health functional food sellers. Sellers must have related facilities and report their business to the head of the local government; violating this can result in up to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to 50 million KRW. Even free giveaways are considered business activities. Processed foods like red ginseng drinks or candies are allowed.

However, regarding health functional foods, the government is reportedly considering regulatory relaxation to allow personal resale. Since most can be stored and distributed at room temperature and have a long shelf life of 1 to 3 years, it is judged that allowing personal resale would not pose significant safety issues.

An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated, "We are aiming to allow personal resale of health functional foods within the first half of this year," adding, "We plan to prepare improvement measures by March."