By Kim Rahn
Seoul City officials have confiscated more than 27,000 fake luxury brand goods at some of the city’s most-popular tourist destinations.
The metropolitan authorities said Wednesday that officials seized 27,497 imitation wallets, bags, hats, clothing items and watches from 639 raids during a crackdown since July. They referred the producers and sellers to the police.
The combined price of the bogus products would be 16.1 billion won ($14.9 million) if they were sold at the same price as the originals, an official said.
The goods were mainly targeted at foreign tourists, shopping in Myeong-dong, Namdaemun Market, Dongdaemun Market and Itaewon.
“With the nation having 10 million foreign visitors, those areas have become must-visit destinations. But such bootleg brand goods are destroying the city’s image, with many seeing it as a paradise for fake goods, so we launched the crackdown,” the official said.
By brand, Louis Vuitton was the most popular, taking up 29.8 percent of the total confiscated products, followed by Chanel, Gucci, Hermes, Nike and Dolce & Gabbana.
The city government conducted the crackdown together with the Jung District Office, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea, the Korean Apparel Industry Association and civic groups. The crackdown is expected to continue next year.
“The vendors claim they have to sell those goods to make a living but making or selling fake items is a crime that infringes on intellectual property rights. Such illegal acts promote distorted propensity to consume, cause troubles in trade and hamper the city’s image. We’ll continue the crackdown,” he said.