SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The value of fake luxury goods that were imported to South Korea over the past five years stood at more than 2 trillion won, a lawmaker has said, with counterfeit Rolex products accounting for the largest share.
According to the data that Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the Democratic Party received from the Korea Customs Service, the value of products violating intellectual property rights that were detected by the customs office during the import process amounted to 2.24 trillion won (US$1.76 billion) between 2018-2022.
In particular, the value of such products detected last year stood at 563.9 billion won, up 141.1 percent from a year earlier.
By brand, Rolex ranked first with 306.5 billion won in counterfeit imports over the past five years, followed by Louis Vuitton at 219.7 billion won, Chanel at 97.4 billion won and Burberry at 83.5 billion won.
By country of origin, China accounted for the largest share at 1.92 trillion won, or 85.7 percent of the total. Following China were Japan at 30.7 billion won, Hong Kong at 12 billion won, the U.S. at 9.5 billion won and Vietnam at 3 billion won.
By type of item, watches grabbed the largest share at 920.1 billion won, followed by bags at 622.2 billion won, clothing at 221.8 billion won and shoes at 92.3 billion won.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)