AliExpress Korea CEO Ray Zhang (Newsis)

AliExpress Korea CEO Ray Zhang expressed the company’s commitment to enhancing product safety during a parliamentary audit, where he faced criticism from South Korean lawmakers for the platform’s failure to stop the sale of hazardous products despite previous pledges to do so.

The audit, led by the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee, was convened to address growing concerns about unsafe products circulating on Chinese e-commerce platforms. These platforms, including the big three -- AliExpress Korea, Temu and Shein -- have rapidly expanded in Korea, attracting consumers with competitive prices, but they have also repeatedly raised concerns over product safety issues.

During the session, Rep. Oh Se-hee from the Democratic Party of Korea referred to the findings of an inspection by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards conducted in late August. The agency examined 190 products available on foreign online platforms, and 40 of them were found to violate safety standards, according to Oh.

In response, Zhang stated that AliExpress had complied with regulatory requests to remove these items. However, Rep. Oh countered by pointing out that a number of the supposedly removed products were still available, including several items containing dangerous levels of lead. She also mentioned that she had received a baby carrier exceeding safety limits just days before the audit.

Acknowledging the severity of the issue, Zhang emphasized the company's commitment to improving product safety. He pointed to AliExpress's agreement in May with the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Importers Association as a proactive step toward enhancing their safety measures.

In response to Rep. Oh's call for more concrete solutions to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, Zhang outlined AliExpress’s strategies to leverage artificial intelligence for more stringent monitoring of product listings, to enhance seller management and to impose tougher penalties on noncompliant sellers. Zhang promised to submit a detailed follow-up after conducting a thorough review.

The session also featured comments from Trade Minister Ahn Deok-geun, who was present as the audit also targeted the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Ahn noted that the government faces significant challenges in regulating foreign e-commerce platforms due to legal constraints. "Even with amendments to domestic laws, enforcing regulations on platforms like AliExpress and Temu is complicated by their extraterritorial nature," said Ahn, highlighting the difficulties of holding overseas companies accountable.

Meanwhile, Rep. Lee Eon-joo of the Democratic Party raised concerns about privacy violations involving IP cameras purchased through AliExpress. The digital cameras connected to internet protocol networks have allegedly been used to capture and distribute footage without consent. Zhang reiterated that AliExpress prohibits the sale of spy cameras and vowed to prevent such breaches.

The Monday audit marked AliExpress Korea's second appearance before the parliamentary committee, following similar inquiries last year regarding counterfeit goods on the platform.

By Hwang Joo-young (flylikekite@heraldcorp.com)