Steel pipes are piled in the yard of a steel mill in Incheon, March 11. Yonhap

The government will prohibit foreign steelmakers from circumventing Korea's antidumping regulations by exporting their products through a third country — a measure that is widely believed to target Chinese companies.

The measure will require steelmakers to present more detailed information about the origins of their products, and will strengthen monitoring by relevant authorities. The government began a process to revise relevant ordinance for the new regulations.

The series of regulations, announced on Wednesday, are countermeasures against risks facing the domestic steel industry, which has already been affected by Washington's imposition of universal 25 percent metal tariffs starting March 12.

Under the new rules, mill test certificates showing more detailed information about the origin of steel products will be required for distributing those products in the domestic market. Additionally, a special team of 56 employees from the Korea Customs Service will conduct intensive crackdowns on the distribution of illegally imported steel products by the end of next month.

"Due to uncertainties surrounding specifics of the U.S. tariff policies and reactions from major countries, it is difficult to forecast how the U.S. tariffs will affect Korean countries," acting President Choi Sang-mok said during a meeting of economy-related ministers. "While communicating closely with the industry, the government will continue announcing necessary measures."

Although the government did not mention the specific source of illegal imports, its latest measures appear to target Chinese companies, which have been hit with antidumping tariffs in Korea as a result of the oversupply of their low-priced steel products here.

"Chinese steelmakers have avoided Korea's antidumping regulations by exporting their goods via Vietnam and Thailand," a steel industry insider said.

Last month, the government decided to impose up to 38.02 percent provisional antidumping tariffs on Chinese thick steel plates, significantly reducing the use of those raw materials by Korean shipbuilders and construction firms this year. An investigation into hot-rolled steel plates from China and Japan also began this month, following Hyundai Steel's antidumping complaint filed in December.

The Korea Iron & Steel Association and domestic steelmakers refrained from giving official comments on the government's latest announcement.

After Washington imposed 25 percent metal tariffs and nullified the tariff-free quota with Korea last week, domestic steelmakers reportedly asked the Korean government to enable them to compete with their Japanese rivals in the U.S. market under equal conditions, considering Tokyo's repeated attempts to get an exemption.

The government, however, just reiterated that it will keep trying to arrange high-level and working-level talks with the U.S. to ask for an exemption for Korean steelmakers from the 25 percent tariff.

Last week, Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo told reporters in Washington that he explained to U.S. government officials why Korea should be exempted from the steel tariff.

"I told them that Korea's steel exports have contributed to the stabilization of supply chain and downstream industries, not threatening U.S. industries," he said on Friday (local time).

However, Cheong returned to Seoul without changing the U.S. stance on metal tariffs, as well as on reciprocal tariffs scheduled to be announced on April 2.

U.S. President Donald Trump also said on Sunday that he does not intend to create exemptions on sweeping steel and aluminum tariffs and reaffirmed that additional duties will go into effect early next month.

"They charge us, and we charge them," Trump said. "Then, in addition to that, on autos, on steel, on aluminum, we're going to have some additional tariffs."

Amid the lack of practical countermeasures against the U.S. tariffs, the government said that it will announce ways to upgrade the domestic steel industry by the end of this year.