This undated file photo, provided by the Korea Post, shows its headquarters in the central city of Sejong. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The national postal service said Friday it plans to launch an affordable Express Mail Service (EMS) soon to help people continue sending parcels to the United States under a new tariff policy.
The previous day, Korea Post said it will stop accepting non-document packages bound for the U.S. on Monday in line with Washington’s suspension of a duty-free policy for international shipments.
The U.S. is set to end the de minimis exemption, under which low-cost parcels from overseas valued at US$800 or less can be shipped to the country without tariffs. All international shipments will begin facing a 15 percent tariff next Friday.
As customers will still be able to send packages to the U.S. via the premium EMS of United Parcel Service (UPS) Inc., which imposes tariffs on the recipient, the state postal service said it will provide a similar program at a more affordable price within two months.
“In order to ease customers’ burden, we are preparing to launch a premium EMS with a lower price compared to the existing one in cooperation with UPS,” the agency said.
“We will continue to monitor details of the new instructions by the U.S., along with trends in the global postal network.”
(Yonhap)
