(image: Pixabay)
INCHEON, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly 90 percent of the counterfeit goods that were caught by customs authorities in the last five years were from China, with Louis Vuitton found to be the biggest victim among reputable brands, data showed Monday.
The value of imported fake goods that were uncovered between 2015 and August this year amounted to 1.86 trillion won (US$1.55 billion), with 89 percent, or 1.65 trillion won worth, from China, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service obtained by Rep. Hong Il-pyo for a parliamentary inspection.
Louis Vuitton was top among forged brands, with 208 billion won worth of goods attempted to be brought in during the period.
It was trailed by Rolex with 119.8 billion won, Chanel with 112.2 billion won, Cartier with 62.5 billion won, Gucci with 37.1 billion won, Prada with 27.2 billion won and Hermes with 22.7 billion won.
By item, watches came first with 665 billion won, followed by bags with 507.4 billion won and garments with 303.3 billion won.
Notably, the amount of fake Louis Vuitton products uncovered during the first eight months this year recorded an almost ninefold increase at 101.1 billion won, up from 11.6 billion won for the whole of last year.
With regard to this surge, customs authorities said they nabbed a group of smugglers importing 220 billion won worth of Chinese-made fake goods in April, 66 billion won worth of which purported to be from the French brand.
(Yonhap)
