Christmas decorations sold on China-based online platforms were found to contain hazardous substances exceeding the legal standards by as much as 215 times, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday.
The city government recently conducted a safety examination on 15 types of children‘s products and other Christmas items sold on Chinese online stores Temu, Shein and AliExpress, and six of them were ruled unsuitable for sale.
Two types of Santa Clause-shaped Christmas ornaments being sold on AliExpress contained phthalate plasticizer that exceeds the legally permitted amount by 215 times. They were also found to have lead levels that exceeded the standards by 11 times.
Phthalate is commonly used in plasticizers to increase the flexibility, transparency durability and longevity of plastics, but excessive levels of the substance can negatively affect health.
Four other types of products were ruled unsuitable for their physical structure. The city’s exam revealed a structural problem for one product with an easily detachable component that the seller did not warn of.
The other three products had sharp edges that presented safety concerns and were ruled unsuitable for children.
The Seoul government said it would continue to conduct safety inspections on products sold by online platforms based overseas, focusing mostly on items widely sold during a particular period. It conducted a similar inspection on 31 products sold on AliExpress earlier this year, eight of which were found to contain excessive amounts of hazardous materials.
The China-based e-commerce platforms have seen a significant increase in Korean consumers. A local data research firm Wise App, Retail, Goods said on Dec.2 that the monthly active users on AliExpress hit 9.68 million in November, making it the second most popular online shopping application behind Coupang, which had 32.19 million users.
Temu had 7.33 million monthly active users, putting it in the No. 4 spot behind domestic retailer 11Street Co.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
