Korea Customs Service busts wine importers for price manipulation

The Korea Customs Service said Wednesday it had referred a group of wine importers to prosecutors on charges of violating customs law after they systematically underreported import prices to evade customs duties and liquor taxes.

The group operated an online shopping mall registered under a German subsidiary to circumvent South Korea's restrictions on online liquor sales. From March 2022 over a four-year period, they imported approximately 188,000 bottles of wine worth 16.7 billion won ($12.1 million) through a purchasing-agent arrangement, while submitting falsified invoices to customs authorities that declared the goods at roughly 11.6 billion won — about 70 percent of the actual price.

At the same time, the group deceived domestic buyers into believing the wine was being imported and sold at full market price, collecting the full price along with the corresponding customs duties and liquor taxes from customers.

Among the wines sold were ultra-premium bottles such as Romanée-Conti, priced at up to 12 million won per bottle. Buyers were found to be predominantly high-income professionals, including doctors and lawyers.

The Seoul Customs Office uncovered the scheme by cross-referencing import declaration records with sales data, identifying discrepancies between declared and actual transaction prices. Investigators traced four years of import filings to establish the charges and secured provisional seizures on the suspects' assets — including real estate and bank accounts — to ensure collection of the evaded taxes.

Jo Jae-min, head of the Seoul Customs Office's Digital Trade Crime Investigation Division, said manipulating import prices through overseas subsidiaries not only harms state finances but also constitutes a serious crime that simultaneously deceives buyers and law-abiding importers. "We will respond strictly to any manipulation of import prices," he said.