Public Homeshopping under police probe over mislabeled seafood, denies wrongdoing

Public Homeshopping, a home shopping channel under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is under police investigation over allegations that it sold foreign-caught skate and flatfish while falsely labeling them as domestic products.

Choi Su-jin, a People Power Party lawmaker and member of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee, said the Gunsan Coast Guard raided Public Homeshopping in May to investigate the alleged origin-labeling violations.

The products in question are seasoned skate sold in broadcasts in September last year and January this year, and prepped flatfish sold in broadcasts in February last year and January this year.

Public Homeshopping sold 7,331 units of the seasoned skate through its broadcasts, generating 182 million won ($136,000) in sales, and sold 2,604 units of the prepped flatfish for 102 million won.

Both products were labeled as domestically sourced in the broadcasts at the time, but the coast guard is investigating them for suspected origin-labeling violations.

After reviewing materials obtained in the raid, the coast guard has in effect completed its case against Public Homeshopping and plans to refer it to prosecutors this month, Choi said.

Public Homeshopping, however, said in an explanatory statement Wednesday that "the investigation is ongoing and it has not yet been confirmed whether the products are foreign or domestic," adding that "Public Homeshopping is cooperating with the police and prosecutors' investigation as a victim."

"The manufacturer also denies any origin-labeling violation, and we are awaiting the results of the investigation to determine whether a violation in fact occurred," the company added. "Depending on the outcome, we plan to faithfully carry out measures such as refunds to protect our customers."

This is not the first time Public Homeshopping has faced controversy over its food products.

The company has previously been caught selling sesame oil mixed with Chinese sesame as a domestic product in 2020, beef products containing dairy cattle meat marketed as hanwoo bulgogi in 2021, an improperly sterilized ox bone soup in 2022, and a quality-degraded samgyetang, a chicken soup dish, in 2025 — all of which led to refunds.

In total, Public Homeshopping has issued refunds over mislabeled or substandard food products six times, totaling 2.35 billion won.

"The fact that Public Homeshopping sells mislabeled food products every year deceives citizens who purchase goods trusting a public institution," Choi said. "The company must urgently restore the public trust it has lost, even if that requires a complete overhaul and innovation of its pre-sale verification process."