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SEOUL: The Seoul city government has asked online retail giants Temu and AliExpress to suspend sales of certain children’s products over safety concerns, saying Friday that some goods far exceeded local limits for hazardous substances.
Chinese e-commerce titans like Shein, Temu and AliExpress have seen a surge in global popularity in recent years, drawing in consumers with a wide range of trendy, ultra-low-cost fashion and accessories — positioning them as major rivals to US giant Amazon.
Their rapid rise has triggered growing scrutiny over business practices and product safety, including in South Korea.
The Seoul city government said Friday it recently inspected 35 children’s products sold on Temu and AliExpress — including umbrellas, raincoats and rain boots — and found that 11 failed to meet South Korea’s safety standards or contained hazardous substances above local limits.
In six of the umbrellas, phthalate-based plasticizers — chemicals used to make plastics more flexible — were found at levels far exceeding safety standards, the city said in a statement.
Some of those products exceeded the domestic safety limit by up to 443.5 times for the chemical, while two items were found to contain lead at levels up to 27.7 times higher than the locally acceptable level.
Based on the inspection results, the Seoul government said it “has requested that online platforms suspend sales of the non-compliant products.”
It also noted that “prolonged exposure to harmful substances can affect children’s growth and health,” and highlighted the need to carefully review product information before making purchases.
The Seoul government told AFP the retailers have no legal obligations to comply with their request.
But Temu said it “immediately initiated an internal review” after receiving notice from the city government, and that it was “in the process of removing the said items.”
“We are continuously improving on our quality control system to prevent, detect, and remove non-compliant products,” a Temu spokesperson told AFP.
AliExpress did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Phthalate-based plasticizers can cause endocrine disorders, while lead exposure above safety limits can impair reproductive functions and increase the risk of cancer, according to Seoul authorities.
Last year, the city government said women’s accessories sold by Shein, AliExpress and Temu contained toxic substances sometimes hundreds of times above acceptable levels.
The European Union last year added Shein to its list of digital firms that are big enough to come under stricter safety rules — including measures to protect customers from unsafe products, especially those that could be harmful to minors.

SEOUL: South Korean police on Friday arrested six US nationals attempting to send plastic bottles packed with rice and Bibles to North Korea, the head of the investigation team said.

Local police said the six were trying to send thousands of plastic bottles, filled with rice, one-dollar bills and Bibles, into the sea off Ganghwa Island at 1:03 am on Friday when they were caught.

“We have arrested and are questioning six American nationals in their 20s to 50s on suspicion of violating the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety,” the head of the investigation team at Ganghwa Police Station in Incheon told AFP.

The Americans could not speak Korean, so “an interpreter was provided for them and we have since started the questioning,” he added.

Located northwest of Seoul, Ganghwa Island is one of the closest South Korean territories to North Korea, with some parts of the surrounding sea lying just 10 kilometers (six miles) from the maritime border between the two countries.

The island has long been a popular site for non-profit organizations and anti-North Korean groups to launch plastic bottles filled with rice, as well as USB sticks containing K-pop and South Korean dramas.

The area was designated a danger zone last November, along with other border regions where activists launch balloons carrying leaflets.

At the time, the government said such activities could be perceived by the North as provocative.

Last year, the two Koreas were in a tit-for-tat propaganda war, as the North sent thousands of trash-filled balloons southwards, saying they were retaliation for propaganda balloons launched by South Korean activists.

In response, Seoul turned on border loudspeaker broadcasts — including K-pop tunes and international news — and North Korea started transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the frontier that had been a major nuisance for South Korean residents in the area.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung, who took office this month, has vowed a more dovish approach toward Pyongyang and has halted the loudspeaker broadcasts, which North Korea, in return, stopped the following day.