Despite Korea's crackdown on the smuggling of capsules from China containing the powdered flesh of dead babies, attempts to smuggle the infant flesh capsules' into Korea are still continuing.

Korea Customs Service continues to confiscate Chinese-made infant flesh pills, despite a severe crackdown.
Korea Customs Service continues to confiscate Chinese-made infant flesh pills, despite a severe crackdown.

According to data by the Korea Customs Service (KCS) submitted to Rep. Kim Young-sun of the ruling People Power Party, authorities have confiscated 1,065 capsules of human flesh found in travelers' belongings from 2016 to 2021 in six separate cases.

Custom officials detected 476 tablets in 2016, 279 tablets in 2017, and 300 tablets in 2018. While there were no cases of detection in 2019 and 2020, the customs agency again detected 10 tablets last year.

“Five cases caught between 2016 and 2018 were from travelers from China, and only one case caught last year was from a traveler who entered from another country,” an official from Rep. Kim’s office said to Joongang Ilbo, a vernacular paper.
However, the official did not specify the name of the other country.

The case of smuggling human flesh capsules into Korea was first caught by (KCS) in 2011 and caused a stir in society, which, in turn, made the government intensify its crackdown on smuggling such capsules.

The gruesome pills, made with stillborn fetuses or placenta, are believed by some to be a performance-enhancement pill that helps increase vitality and sex drive.

However, experts stressed that the capsules are likely full of bacteria and a health risk.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's (MFDS) 2013 analysis of human flesh pills found a large number of contaminated bacteria and hepatitis viruses.

"Some people take infant flesh capsules for health, but this not only violates social dignity and customs, but as shown in the experimental results, it is illegally manufactured and exposed to the risk of contamination with harmful substances such as microorganisms and hepatitis virus," the ministry's investigation team had said in the past.

Meanwhile, an official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's criminal investigation unit refused to comment the issue, citing the ongoing investigation.

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