Product recalls up 4.7% last year as consumer goods, medical device cases rise

Product recalls carried out over safety concerns last year rose modestly from the previous year, according to government data released Monday.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said it tallied 2,656 recalls conducted last year by central government agencies, local governments and the Korea Consumer Agency — up 4.7 percent from 2,537 in 2024.

The figure was still below the 2,813 recalls recorded in 2023, however.

By type of action, recall orders were the most common at 905 cases, followed by recall recommendations at 886 and voluntary recalls by businesses at 865.

Looking at the legal basis for recalls, 2,530 cases — or 95.3 percent of the total — were carried out under seven laws, including the Consumer Basic Act, the Medical Devices Act, the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, the Chemical Products Safety Act, the Motor Vehicle Management Act, the Food Sanitation Act and the Product Safety Basic Act.

Recalls under the Consumer Basic Act rose 41.6 percent year-on-year to 851 cases, making them the primary driver of the overall increase. The Fair Trade Commission attributed the rise to authorities stepping up efforts to block the sale of foreign-recalled products being distributed through domestic open-market platforms.

Recalls under the Food Sanitation Act jumped 103.9 percent year-on-year to 259 cases. The commission said the increase reflected a policy shift that began last year to actively include frozen and other products that consumers may have already purchased and stored at home in the scope of recalls.

In contrast, recalls under the Chemical Products Safety Act fell by 165 cases, or 36.3 percent, to 290. The commission said the decline resulted from focused efforts to intercept potentially hazardous products before they reached the market through market surveillance teams and online monitoring.

By product category, recalls of consumer goods rose 8.6 percent to 1,282 cases, and medical device recalls climbed 8.5 percent to 308. Automobile recalls dropped 24.8 percent to 300 cases, while pharmaceutical recalls fell 13.5 percent to 295.

Recalls conducted by local governments surged 144.2 percent year-on-year to 254 cases, with the increase driven mainly by food-related recalls.

Separately, authorities blocked 12,902 hazardous foreign products from entering domestic distribution channels through monitoring activities, a 13 percent increase from the previous year.