Customs Administrator Lee Myung-gu said on Jan. 2, the first business day of the new year, that the agency will block drug smuggling and launch clearance and investigative systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Lee said in a New Year's address that the agency will further strengthen frontline border interdiction to restore the status of a "drug-free nation," and will conduct high-intensity crackdowns across all import channels, including clearance, travelers, and express consignments.
The Korea Customs Service will add staff this year at the express and traveler clearance stages and build a "second defensive line" to block illicit drugs in international mail. It will set up a system to immediately link detected major drug cases to investigations and strengthen cooperation with drug origin countries and domestic agencies. To that end, the Korea Customs Service will establish the Korea Customs Service Drug Eradication Response Headquarters (MADEBON) starting this year.
The Korea Customs Service also set responses to trade security violations and transnational crimes as priority tasks for this year. Centered on a dedicated trade security investigative unit launching in the new year, it plans to systematically cut off illegal trade and criminal fund flows.
Lee emphasized that the agency will monitor not only money laundering that exploits virtual assets but also even minor leads related to criminal organizations' fund distribution, and will track and block the financial links of transnational crimes to the end.
To establish order in foreign exchange, the agency will also examine blind spots in the reporting and inspection system for carrying foreign currency out of the country. Through interagency cooperation and system improvements, it plans to rigorously control illegal foreign currency outflows. It will tighten inspections at the clearance stage for firearms and other items posing terrorism risks and build a dense monitoring network to prevent the smuggling of gun parts that could be misused to make homemade firearms.
With non-preferential rules of origin emerging as a new standard after the conclusion of Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations, the agency plans to continuously share U.S. customs authorities' origin determinations and tariff classification cases so that exporters to the United States do not face disadvantages. In response to the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), it will distribute a carbon emissions management program for small and mid-size enterprises and operate a task force dedicated to resolving clearance bottlenecks.
In particular, it said it will conduct a sweeping review of unreasonable regulations in clearance and logistics so that not only core industries such as semiconductors, automobiles, bio, and shipbuilding but also new growth industries such as K-beauty, K-food, and K-culture can secure competitiveness in global markets.
Lee said, "AI is not a simple tool but a game changer that reshapes all of customs administration," adding, "We must shift to an AI-based approach for thorough clearance management, accurate revenue collection, and even tailored support for corporations."