The amount of agricultural and fishery products smuggled into the country has risen sharply in recent years, with nearly half of them coming from China, customs data showed Thursday.
The amount rose to 123.9 billion won ($109.3 million) last year from 40.3 billion won in 2014 and 67.7 billion won in 2015, according to findings released by the Korea Customs Service.
(Yonhap)
By country, China accounted for 108.5 billion won, or 46.8 percent, of the 231.9 billion won worth of goods smuggled into the country from 2014-2017.
Russia came in second at 62.6 billion won, followed by Vietnam at 15.1 billion won.
By item, pepper and dried chili pepper topped the list at 29.6 billion won, trailed by pollack at 19 billion won, chili pepper at 14.7 billion won and garlic at 14.5 billion won.
South Korea imposes 270 percent tariffs on imports of pepper and red chili pepper under the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement.
Russian pollack was the most smuggled product at 17.6 billion won last year as the domestic catch declined drastically. (Yonhap)
