NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

With concerns rising over the country-of-origin labeling for seafood in the wake of Japan’s decision to release radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is to conduct a special crackdown on the labeling of country of origin for imported seafood from April 22nd to May 12th. Inspections will target seafood imported within the past month, such as live scallops, live red sea-bream, live octopus, refrigerated skate fish and pollack. Inspectors will check for such violations as unmarked country of origin, wrong labeling method, and false country of origin labeling.
The Korea Customs Service reported today that Korea’s wine import for the first quarter of this year stood at nearly 200 million dollars, exceeding 100 million dollars in the first quarter for the first time in history. Red wine accounted for 76% of the entire wine import with roughly 84 million dollars. Most of the imported wine came from France, followed by the United States and Chile. The Korea Customs Service concluded that social distancing guidelines drove up the wine sales at large retailers for at-home consumption.