Counterfeit Keyrings and Dolls Surge in Incheon Despite Overall Drop in Fake Goods

Keyrings and dolls accounted for eight out of ten items violating intellectual property rights seized by the Incheon Main Customs this year.

According to Incheon Main Customs, out of 136,000 items worth 19 cases of intellectual property violations seized by Incheon Customs from January to June this year, dolls and keyrings accounted for 106,000 items, or 77.9 percent of the total.

In fact, related items seized by Incheon Customs showed a significant share in statistics over the past three years, with 132,000 items (41.9 percent) in 2024 and 103,000 items (22.6 percent) last year.

In particular, this year, only the smuggling of dolls and keyrings showed an upward trend even as the overall scale of seizures decreased.

Compared to the first half of last year, crackdowns decreased for traditional smuggled items such as clothing, which dropped by 43,000 items, and bags and wallets, which fell by 121,000 items, whereas dolls and keyrings increased.

This is interpreted as the result of a combination of the recently popular bag-decorating trend and the supply to bring in various intellectual property-infringing character products as prizes for claw machine arcades and unmanned stores.

In the first half of this year, the number of detected cases for dolls and keyrings stood at 9, but the seized volume exceeded 100,000, averaging about 11,000 items per case.

Recently, 30,000 various related items were detected by Incheon Customs, and there are also cases under investigation after attempting to smuggle 13,000 items.

An official from Incheon Customs stated, "As there is high demand for keyrings and claw machines among young people these days, related cases have also increased accordingly," adding, "There are many instances where goods are seized in large quantities at once, resulting in a substantial volume of seizures."

(Photo provided by Incheon Main Customs, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.