As ‘mallangi’·‘wakppubol’ trend, overseas direct purchases are rising···Can the ‘loopholes’ that allow counterfeits and hazardous substances to enter be closed - 경향신문

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An SNS post featuring a mallangi purchased via overseas direct purchase. Screenshot from Instagram

You knead corn- and pudding-shaped toys with your hands and crack the wax coating. Recently on social media, it is easy to find reviews of people who bought tactile toys such as ‘mallangi’ or ‘wakppubol’ directly from overseas online marketplaces and used them. Low prices and a wide variety of shapes attract consumers, but it is not easy to verify safety before purchase.

As overseas direct purchases have become routine, managing the safety of goods crossing borders has also emerged as a task. There are ongoing cases of abusing simplified clearance procedures to bring in goods for resale or illegal pharmaceuticals, prompting calls to strengthen measures to block them.

The Korea Customs Service officially launched an e-commerce-dedicated customs clearance platform on the 26th of last month. It is a system that uses e-commerce operator registration and transaction information to select high-risk items. With large-scale discount events such as China’s Gwanggunje on the 11th and the United States’ Black Friday on the 27th approaching and direct-purchase volumes expected to surge, attention is focusing on the new platform’s response capacity.

According to the Korea Customs Service’s status of import clearance for e-commerce goods, the number of clearances increased from 88,575,000 in 2021 to 96,360,000 in 2022, 131,717,000 in 2023, 181,483,000 in 2024, and 186,232,000 in 2025. It more than doubled in four years.

Over the same period, import values were $5.269 billion, $5.077 billion, $5.664 billion, $6.534 billion, and $6.687 billion, an increase of about 27% over four years.

According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ ‘Online Shopping Trends for September 2026’, in the third quarter this year, online overseas direct purchases were highest for clothing and fashion-related goods (753.9 billion KRW), food and beverages (383.9 billion KRW), and household and automotive goods (216.5 billion KRW). Compared with the same period last year, categories with standout growth in purchase amounts included books (37.3%), software (29.4%), telecommunications devices (18.2%), and children’s and infant products (15.2%).

Recently, tactile toys such as mallangi·slime are riding the direct-purchase wave. According to materials submitted by Rep. Ahn Sang-hoon of the People Power Party from the Korea Customs Service, from January to August this year there were 244,000 clearance cases for tactile toys, 2.6 times last year’s total (95,000). The amount reached $2,507,000 from January to August this year, surpassing last year’s total of $1,528,000.

Tactile toys purchased by individuals for personal use can enter without the KC certification process that verifies compliance with safety standards, unlike children’s toys formally imported for sale.

The problem, however, is that many exploit this kind of ‘direct-purchase gap’.

From January to September this year, cases of abusing overseas direct purchases uncovered by the Korea Customs Service amounted to 38.5 billion KRW. The largest portion, 32.4 billion KRW, involved purchases masquerading as personal buys to receive duty-free benefits but intended for resale, followed by 3.2 billion KRW in smuggling of goods infringing intellectual property rights and 2.9 billion KRW in smuggling of illegal food and pharmaceuticals.

There are indeed products in which hazardous substances have been confirmed. The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that in August it tested 20 products labeled ‘14 and older’ sold on overseas online platforms and at domestic stationery stores, and found hazardous substances or physical safety cautions in seven. In some mallangi, phthalate plasticizers that can adversely affect reproductive function were detected at up to 164.2 times the children’s product standard. In packaging, plasticizers were at 142.7 times the standard, and the carcinogenic substance cadmium was at about 1.5 times.

Even pharmaceuticals are increasingly being brought in illegally. From January to August this year, 5,030 cases of illegal import of anti-obesity drugs such as Wegovy·Mounjaro were detected. That was about 4.2 times last year’s full-year total of 1,189. Some Mounjaro products were identified as counterfeits after ingredient analysis and appraisal by the trademark rights holder.

On September 17 at the importexport clearance building of Incheon Airport Customs, ahead of a briefing titled ‘Briefing on Strengthening the Blocking of Harmful Pharmaceuticals Brought in from Overseas, Such as Counterfeit Mounjaro’, a Korea Customs Service employee displays seized items including counterfeit Mounjaro. The Korea Customs Service stated that detections of anti-obesity drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy rose sharply from 4 cases in 2024 to 1,189 cases in 2025, and that this year 5,030 cases had been detected as of August, about 4.2 times last year’s full-year total. Yonhap News Agency

To respond to illegal entries that exploit overseas direct purchases, the Korea Customs Service officially launched its e-commerce-dedicated clearance platform on the 26th of last month.

The key is selecting high-risk items using transaction information. Goods from companies with sufficient or reliable transaction data are cleared swiftly, while X-ray reading and inspections are concentrated on high-risk items that do not go through the platform.

A one-time authentication number per purchase will also be applied in stages to prevent misuse of personal customs clearance codes. This is to supplement the system that allowed purchases without a separate authentication step if one had only a personal customs clearance code. Going forward, to make an overseas direct purchase, buyers will need to provide th authentication number received by text message or e-mail together with the clearance code.

Special enforcement timed to year-end sales events is also under way. From November 2 to December 27, the Korea Customs Service is conducting a ‘special crackdown on offenders abusing overseas direct purchases’. Categories with high direct-purchase demand such as cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals, bags·shoes·clothing, and electrical·electronic products are key targets.

For risk selection through transaction information to translate into actual blocking of entries, on-site inspection capacity must back it up. Yet the volume that inspection sites must handle remains heavy. According to materials submitted by Rep. Moon Jin-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Korea Customs Service, from January to July this year there were 122,655,000 express cargo clearance cases. Of these, 1.61 million items were opened and checked directly, for an opening-inspection rate of about 1.3%.

All express cargo undergoes X-ray screening, after which suspicious items are selected for opening inspection. That makes stable operation of X-ray equipment and accurate reading all the more important, but issues have also been raised about equipment condition. At a National Assembly audit on the 15th of last month, it was pointed out that 121 of the 376 X-ray scanners owned by the Korea Customs Service were not operating smoothly.

The government plans to invest budget funds to expand the customs clearance base to respond to increasing express cargo. Next year’s budget plan for the express cargo customs clearance support project has been set at 17,046,000,000 KRW, up 4,424,000,000 KRW from this year. The funds will be used for leasing and operating express logistics centers and building customs clearance infrastructure.

A Korea Customs Service official said, “The new clearance platform registers and manages overseas direct-purchase platforms and firms involved in the purchasing process, and receives transaction information such as orders in advance to check whether high-risk goods are being brought in,” adding, “Through the one-time authentication number system, we expect it will help prevent problems in which goods disguised as personal imports are sold.”