Choca Pai, a product that seems to have mimicked both the name and packaging of the popular Korean snack Choco Pie, is now being sold in retail markets throughout Hanoi, Vietnam, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Korea Times file

Orion's Choco Pie / Yonhap

Korean products, ranging from food and liquor to home appliances, have been steadily gaining popularity in global retail markets, especially in Southeast Asia. However, this growing demand has also sparked a rise in counterfeit goods across the region, according to Korean industry officials and a lawmaker, Wednesday.

Despite the widespread occurrence of counterfeiting, government efforts to regulate these practices and protect Korean companies affected by them have been insufficient, falling short of effectively preventing such violations.

The prevalence of counterfeit goods in the region is clear from the striking similarities in names and logos, which closely mimic those of the original products they seek to imitate.

Cuckoo, Korea's largest manufacturer of electronic rice cookers, with exports making up 30% of its total sales, has encountered counterfeit products across several Southeast Asian countries. These fake products, branded as Gugkoo, are being sold in local offline stores, online marketplaces, and even on social media platforms.

The issue recently gained attention in Vietnam, where news reports revealed that local consumers had purchased the counterfeit products, mistakenly believing they were authentic Korean goods.

Jimro and Choca Pai, both currently available in large supermarkets across the region, are also clear counterfeits. Jimro mimics the popular Korean soju brand by HiteJinro, while Choca Pai imitates Choco Pie, a chocolate cake produced by major Korean companies such as Orion, Lotte Wellfood, Crown, and E-Mart's sub-brand, No Brand.

The counterfeit products display Korean words on their packaging to mislead consumers into believing they are genuine Korean goods. One of the fake rice cookers even features a Korean phrase that reads, "representative prestigious rice cooker in Korea," further deceiving buyers about its authenticity.

The range of counterfeit brands is extensive, copying logos from major Korean companies across various industries, including fried chicken franchises, coffee shops, home decor, dessert cafés, food products, bakeries, and cosmetics.

One of the Korean rice cooker manufacturers with a subsidiary in Vietnam has acknowledged the situation and is actively working to prevent local consumers from purchasing counterfeit products.

"We're trying to come up with various ways to mitigate the issue, but it's not easy," said an official at the company.

According to Cuckoo, counterfeit versions of its products, sold under the name Gugkoo, have become available to consumers in Vietnam. Some of these counterfeits even use letters from the original Cuckoo logo, while others have completely copied the brand name. Courtesy of Cuckoo

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), approximately 512,000 cases of counterfeit Korean products have been discovered and blocked from sale in overseas retail markets over the past three years. More than 70 percent of these cases originated from Southeast Asia, with Indonesia leading the count at 109,000 cases, followed by the Philippines with 71,000, Singapore with 60,000, Malaysia with 52,000, and Vietnam with 38,000. Additionally, China accounted for a significant portion of the counterfeits, totaling 69,000 cases.

KIPO has been providing support to Korean companies that report their brand logos or products have been copied or mimicked for counterfeits sold overseas without permission. This not only misleads global consumers about the authenticity of their products but also risks damaging trust in these brands due to the questionable quality of the counterfeits.

However, government support remains inadequate. Out of approximately 2,800 complaints filed by Korean companies last year concerning alleged brand counterfeiting, only 76 cases resulted in any form of government action.

According to Rep. Kim Kyo-heung of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who serves on the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee, the government's response to the issue requires a systemic enhancement.

"The government currently runs a local support center in only two Southeast Asian nations for Korean companies that have exported to the region," the lawmaker said.

A KIPO official said the agency will enhance its monitoring efforts in the region to address the longstanding issue that has persisted for years.

"We've been informing Korean companies of suspected counterfeits and encouraging them to file for government support through our agency. We've also been cooperating with foreign online shopping platforms to remove products we deem to be counterfeits. To assist victimized Korean firms register their product labels abroad, we have also been providing legal support to combat counterfeits that registered their fake labels before the originals," the official said. "This year, we've nabbed about 100,000 cases of counterfeits being sold online in Southeast Asia and China."

The market value of counterfeits sold overseas that violated the intellectual property rights of Korean products in 2021 was approximately 11 trillion won ($8.3 billion), accounting for 1.5 percent of the country's total exports that year, according to KIPO.