"Wiped 'Made in China' Off Watches with Acetone"... J.ESTINA CEO Gets Suspended Prison Sentence

Accused of selling Chinese-made watches as Korean-made

J.ESTINA CEO gets prison sentence suspended

Charged with violating the Foreign Trade Act and other laws... one year in prison, suspended for two years

The head of jewelry company J.ESTINA, who was indicted on charges of falsely selling Chinese-made watches as domestically made, was sentenced to a prison term suspended for one year in the first trial.

Yonhap News Agency reported on Oct. 15 that Yang Hwanseung, presiding judge of the Seoul Eastern District Court's Criminal Division 1 (single-judge bench), sentenced the J.ESTINA CEO, identified only by the surname Kim, to one year in prison, suspended for two years, on charges including violating the Foreign Trade Act and the Act on Support for Market Access. The four employees indicted alongside Kim were each fined 8 million won.

Kim and others are accused of importing about 120,000 wristwatches from China at low prices between 2017 and 2023 and selling them as Korean-made. According to the prosecution, they removed the "Made in China" markings from the watches with acetone and reassembled them to pass them off as domestically made. They also deceived the Public Procurement Service by claiming they had manufactured watches themselves when they had actually received them from another factory.

On Aug. 31, the prosecution sought a three-year prison sentence for Kim and prison terms ranging from six months to one year and six months for the four J.ESTINA employees, based on the degree of their involvement in the offense.

Kim's side argued that he was unaware of the violations of origin-labeling rules and, given the company's sales at the time, had no reason to order or tolerate them. It also said he had not been properly briefed on the Public Procurement Service's bidding and delivery process. However, the court concluded, based on employee reports and the contents of business plans, that Kim knew about the violations but condoned them for business reasons. It also found that the bids for public institutions had been made at Kim's direction.

Exterior view of Seoul Eastern District Court.

Presiding Judge Yang said, "Damaging origin labels and passing products off as Korean-made in exports seriously harm sound foreign trade practices and international trust, while falsely labeling products' origin and selling them domestically undermine consumer trust." The judge added, "Considering the symbolic importance of the company's watch business and its organizational structure, it is not reasonable to believe that CEO Kim was unaware of these facts." The judge continued, "Given the risks to the company's reputation, these are not matters that staff members could secretly pursue entirely on their own responsibility while deceiving the CEO," and said, "We cannot accept that they entered into contracts at their own discretion, disregarding internal procedures and without reporting to their superiors."

However, the court took into account as sentencing factors that Kim had no prior criminal record and that the practice had been customary at the company even before he became CEO. The court said it also considered that all the employees were first-time offenders who admitted their wrongdoing and expressed remorse, and that they committed the offenses while carrying out their work.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.