Administrator Lee Seung-woo of Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) delivers his commemorative speech at a ceremony to mark 2020 Product Safety Day at Coex in Samseong-dong, Seoul, on Nov. 11. (Photos: KATS)

Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) hosted a ceremony to mark 2020 Product Safety Day, with about 100 people in attendance at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, on Nov. 11.

Among those on hand at the event were Chairperson Kang Jeong-hwa of the Voice for Consumers and award winners who contributed to ensuring product safety.

The 2020 Product Safety Day anniversary event, the biggest such event in Korea, was the 13th rendition since it was created after merging with Electric Product Safety Day and Industrial Product Safety in 2008.

KATS, celebrating Product Safety Day, released major indexes to show Korean society’s latest product safety yardsticks.

Companies who produce and distribute safe products are on the rise. Safety certifications and confirmation cases have shot up 38.4 percent and 96.5 percent compared to 2017, respectively, figures show.

The recalled product recovery rate and imported product violation rate stood at 54.7 percent and 23.9 percent as of September, respectively.

The figures represent an improvement of 12.5 percentage points and 6.5 percentage points compared to 2017.

In particular, school supplies, LED lighting and health tools saw recall recovery rates make a remarkable improvement.

During the anniversary event, 39 people and organizations who have contributed to ensuring the safety of society from harmful products were honored with diverse orders and government prizes, including the Order of Industrial Service Merit, Bronze Tower.

KATS Administrator Lee Seung-woo said, “‘The new normal era’ has been ushered in when non-face-to-face contacts such as on-line transactions of the whole of our daily lives, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, have progressing at a fast pace, and the public demand for the safety of products has been heightened further.”

The government has been spearheading product safety policies without wavering.

It is seeking to introduce an online safety scrutiny and KC safety certification factory examination for products whose consumption has shot up in the wake of the pandemic, the administrator said.

He urged companies to keep in mind awareness toward unlimited responsibility for their own products and consumers to make it sure to ascertain the safety of products being purchased and used.

KATS Administrator Lee Seung-woo poses with individuals and representatives of organizations honored in recognition of their contribution to ensure product safety.

Korea’s ‘K-quarantine’ Strategies Introduced at G20 Riyard International Standards Summit

Korea’s strategies to standardize “K-quarantine” against the COVID-19 pandemic to lead its contribution to international community and non-face-to-face economy were introduced over a teleconference of G20 countries.

KATS participated in the G20 Riyard International Standards Summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia, virtually on Nov. 4. The event took place in celebration of Saudi Arabia’s hosting G20 Summit, slated for Dec. 1.

The secretary generals of the world’s three standardization organizations — ISO, IEC and ITU — and national standardization agency representatives of G20 countries attended the summit.

They discussed ways of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and roles of international standards in digital transformation.

KATS Holds 3rd Smart City Asia Forum

KATS hosted the 3rd Smart City Asia Forum both on- and off-line on Nov. 3.

Nine countries, including Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and two other major ASEAN countries as well as Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates participated in the forum.

KATS formed the Smart City Asia Standard Forum, an experts’ networking event to share strategies on smart city standardization among Asian countries which have similar urban environments, in June 2018.

The inaugural Smart City Asian Standard Forum was held with nine AESAN and Middle East countries in attendance. Smart city is one of the Korean New Deal projects the government has implementing.