IP agency holds National Assembly forum on counterfeit goods

South Korea's government, legislature and industry are joining forces to address the growing spread of counterfeit K-brand products abroad and the circulation of fake goods at home.

The Korea Intellectual Property Agency is co-hosting a forum Wednesday at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, with Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Oh Se-hee to develop strategies against counterfeit goods at home and abroad.

The damage caused by counterfeit goods has spread beyond businesses to consumers. The volume of counterfeit K-brand products circulating overseas is estimated at around 11 trillion won ($8.13 billion), with resulting losses to domestic companies estimated at 7 trillion won in annual sales and roughly 14,000 manufacturing jobs.

Consumer safety concerns are also mounting. A Korea Consumer Agency probe of 34 counterfeit foreign-brand cosmetics distributed domestically found that one in three — 32.4 percent — contained hazardous substances such as methanol and lead exceeding safety thresholds.

National Assembly, government and industry put their heads together on counterfeits

The forum will bring together lawmaker Oh, Korea Intellectual Property Agency Deputy Director General Jeong Yeon-woo, representatives from industry and online platforms, relevant government agencies and academic experts. The agency will present an overview of counterfeit K-brand distribution at home and abroad along with proposed countermeasures, while the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. will introduce technologies to block fake goods. Trademark holders, online platform operators and government agencies will then discuss cooperative measures to cut off counterfeit distribution channels.

Over 200 genuine and counterfeit products on display side by side

An accompanying National Assembly exhibition will display more than 200 authentic K-brand products alongside their counterfeits, illustrating the increasingly sophisticated nature of fake goods and showcasing anti-counterfeiting technologies including holograms, authenticity labels and watermarks. The agency will also operate an experience booth for its "K-Brand Government Certification System," set to launch in full in October, which aims to block the overseas distribution of counterfeit K-brand goods. Key agency policies — including a "Fake K-Brand Reporting Center" and "K-Brand Dispute Response Support" — will also be introduced.

"Counterfeit goods go beyond harming individual companies — they undermine the trust and value that Korean businesses have built up over years in the global market," Oh said. "I will carefully examine the systems and policies needed to block counterfeit goods so that our companies can expand overseas with confidence."

"The more popular K-brands become, the more fakes appear to exploit that popularity," Deputy Director General Jeong said. "We will work closely with the National Assembly and industry to block counterfeits at every stage of distribution and pursue them to the end, so that the value of brands built by Korean companies is not eroded by fake goods."