▲ Ilshin Customs Brokerage / CEO Subbon Ku

Every international trade transaction must be declared and approved by customs. This process of declaring imports and exports and paying duties is called customs clearance, and customs officers are the professionals who do this job. Customs officers are familiar with customs laws and regulations, help importers and exporters obtain tariff benefits, and provide international trade consulting to help businesses go smoothly.

Ilshin Customs Brokerage (CEO Subbon Ku), located in Pyeongtaek, has been trusted in the region since its establishment in 1997, helping importers and exporters to utilize the customs system efficiently, and contributing to the development of the country’s industry by faithfully performing customs agency services.

 

Over 20 years of customs experience

Ilshin is recognized as the nation’s top customs agency by providing differentiated import and export customs clearance services based on know-how accumulated over the past 26 years, and currently operates Incheon Airport Office and Busan Office centered in Pyeongtaek Headquarters.

CEO Ku has 19 years of experience as a customs official, gaining expertise in semiconductors at Suwon Customs, where he was in charge of import clearance for Samsung Electronics. During a tour of Pyeongtaek Port, Ku realized that it would be a key location for trade with China in the future, so he established a customs office in Pyeongtaek.

Even at the age of 74, he is full of enthusiasm and energy. “Being a customs officer is something I’m proud of in many ways because you can do it even when you’re over 70, and you continue to gain know-how and expertise,” he said.

He works with his employees, and when there is a problem, he immediately identifies it and provides a solution. Even when he’s out of the office, he’s on the edge of his seat for calls that could come in at any moment, and since customs at Incheon Airport runs around the clock, he’s moving accordingly.

Ilshin made a name for itself in the industry when it spent 18 years handling customs clearance for Dutch semiconductor lithography globalist ASML, working with the company before it became the world’s largest lithography manufacturer.

Ku said “ASML, which was building a global logistics center at the time, chose Incheon International Airport Customs, which has a 24-hour import and export customs clearance system, to build a logistics center in Korea, and we handled the customs clearance, which led to a relationship with ASML. We operated our second office at Incheon Airport to accommodate the 24-hour customs clearance, and when the terms changed a few years ago, the contract came to an end, and ASML gave us an extra year and a half to finish the job, naturally with a reduced workforce.”

As ASML finalized the contract, the company posted a thank you note on its website thanking Ilshin for 18 years of reliable customs clearance.

 

Building trust with customers through sincerity and professionalism

Ku said “We consider ourselves to be professionals who provide services and have a service mindset to ensure customer satisfaction. As the owner, I’ve always chosen to take matters into my own hands and solve problems, find different ways to resolve customer pain points, and always do it the right way and honestly.”

With the rise of free trade agreements and the complexity of trade transactions between countries, Ilshin is constantly updating international laws to provide clients with proactive and customized consulting.

Ku said “We developed our own offshoring program so that we could unbundle and declare parts that would otherwise be declared in batches of dozens.” 

For example, the program can be used to unpack and declare all 10,000 parts of a car one by one. Whereas other places usually bundle them in 50 pieces for convenience, Ilshin can declare them one by one and get 99.99% of the tax paid on 10,000 pieces back. This is a refund for exporting and receiving.

 

Ku values the most of protecting customers

Ku was the first customs officer to receive the Presidential Award on the 50th Trade Day in 2013 for his contributions to national exports, and was honored with the Korea Research Society for Customs’ Customs Promotion Award for 2023.

“We have developed a customized customs clearance system based on the exact needs of our customers, and we strive to provide proactive, not reactive, services with the ultimate goal of protecting our customers. As a former customs official, I understand state positions and laws, and as a customs agent, I understand the situation of exporters and actively try to solve their problems. Customs officers need a lot of experience and know-how, and I want to create an opportunity for the customs business to become more engaged.”

백정준 기자  googies@naver.com