At Public Home Shopping under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, nearly 10,000 products mislabeled and sold as domestic—skate and flatfish actually from overseas—were found. The sales amount for the products came to about 280 million won.
According to Choi Su-jin of the People Power Party, a member of the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee, the Gunsan Maritime Police in North Jeolla searched and seized Public Home Shopping in May to confirm suspected violations of country-of-origin labeling.
As a result of the search, Public Home Shopping sold 7,331 servings of seasoned skate through broadcasts in September last year and January this year, with sales reaching 182 million won. It also sold 2,604 cleaned flatfish through broadcasts in February last year and January this year, posting 102 million won in sales. Combined, the two products totaled 9,935 units sold, with 284 million won in sales.
The issue is that when these products were sold on Public Home Shopping, their origin was labeled as "domestic." However, during the Korea Coast Guard investigation, it was reported that they were confirmed to be origin-labeling violations that used foreign-sourced ingredients.
After reviewing materials secured through the search and seizure, the Korea Coast Guard is said to have obtained much of the evidence needed to prove allegations related to Public Home Shopping. The Korea Coast Guard plans to transfer the case to prosecutors this month.
This is not the first time Public Home Shopping has faced controversy over food products. In 2020, Public Home Shopping sold sesame oil mixed with Chinese sesame as domestic, and in 2021 it sold bulgogi containing beef from cattle of mixed breeds as premium Korean beef, known as hanwoo bulgogi. In 2022, it sold royal ox-knee soup that had not been sterilized, and in 2025 it sold degraded-quality samgyetang and issued refunds. There have been six such refund measures in total, with refunds amounting to 2.354 billion won.
Choi Su-jin said, "The fact that Public Home Shopping sells adulterated food every year is an act of deceiving the public who trusted a public institution to purchase goods," adding, "It must urgently restore the public's broken trust by overhauling and innovating the pre-verification system across the board."
A Public Home Shopping official said, "As a public-institution home shopping channel, we have no reason to deceive customers by selling imported food as domestic for a small, immediate revenue," adding, "We suspect the manufacturer mislabeled overseas-seasoned skate and flatfish as domestic and sold them through Public Home Shopping, and an investigation is underway."