 Seoul Main Customs Agency officials inspect 6,000 samples of counterfeit Louis Vuitton merchandise Wednesday. A cartel was busted in July after a sting operation by the office. All confiscated items will be incinerated. |
20,000 counterfeit bags confiscated in raid
By Kwaak Je-yup
A sophisticated and systematized luxury goods imitation cartel has been caught in Seoul, the Seoul Main Customs Agency announced Wednesday.
It is the first discovery of a vertically-integrated system of this scale in Korea, handling production in addition to storage and sales.
"Due to the relatively high production costs (in Korea), most counterfeit goods had been smuggled from China and are sold here afterwards," said Lee Dong-hyeon, spokesperson of the Seoul Main Customs Agency. "Conversely, in this case, the Louis Vuitton bags were made here to be exported."
Stricter inspections at the border and increasing costs for Chinese fake goods are cited as the main reasons for establishing the facilities here, according to the customs office press release.
Despite the high-profile arrest, it is yet to be seen, however, if this movement towards Korean production constitutes a trend.
Caught during the office's sting operation in late July, the trade was solely dedicated to Louis Vuitton, widely believed to be the No. 1 choice for brand-conscious East Asian consumers.
A male suspect identified as "A," 51, was arrested while other four unnamed collaborators were charged without arrest.
The counterfeiters specifically targeted Japanese consumers. The vast majority of 20,000-plus confiscated bags were designed with the chessboard pattern particularly popular in that nation, dubbed "Damier" by the French luxury house.
At the time of arrest, already more than 14,000 products were either exported illegally to Japan or sold to shops in Dongdaemun and Itaewon, areas frequented by tourists.
Each bag was sold for around 200,000 won.
All facilities were located within a 1 km radius of A's residence in central Seoul, yet they were spread out to avoid discovery.
To date, inspectors have located a storage building for raw materials, a semi-finished goods workshop, two finished goods factories, a storeroom for finished goods and a separate space for those for-export products.
After a sale, the organization sent the fake merchandise via outside contractors locally known as "quick service," a popular anonymous delivery method by motorcyclists.
Counterfeit goods trade has been a part of the country's markets, despite continued government efforts to crack it down, but the rising level of its organization worries the officials.
"Domestic manufacture and illegal export of counterfeit goods are criminal acts that damage the image of not only the nation but the goods legally made in Korea," said a spokesperson in the press release. "Inspection efforts will be stepped up even further, given the incentive for imitation goods production in the country."
The Seoul spokesperson of Louis Vuitton declined to comment on the announcement.
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