[The Hwankyung Ilbo] The amount of illegal food imports detected is steadily increasing. According to the data submitted to Rep. Kim Young-jin from the Korea Customs Service, illegal food imports increased from 107 in 2015 to 166 in 2018, and 188 cases were reported by August this year.

The amount caught dropped from 15.7 billion won in 2015 to 3.4 billion won in 2016 and 1.1 billion won in 2017, but jumped nearly 10-fold to 10.9 billion won in 2018, and recorded 21.7 billion won as of August this year.

“The illegal food imports have not been eradicated and are constantly threatening the health of the people,” said Rep. Kim Young-jin. “The customs authorities should strengthen their supervision to thoroughly block illegal food imports, especially when the path to the introduction of African swine fever has yet to be revealed.”

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