A senior South Korean diplomat faces an investigation for bringing ivory home following a posting in Africa, officials said Monday.
South Korean customs inspectors found some 10 pieces of ivory in the shipment of the unidentified diplomat, a customs official who declined to be named told AFP.
The man will soon be summoned by customs who will investigate the case before deciding whether to refer it to prosecutors.
"We don't know for now whether he was intentionally trying to smuggle the ivory, or whether someone else stuffed the items into his parcels without his knowledge," the official said.
The diplomat had not reported the ivory, the trade of which is banned by a global pact on endangered animals, he added.
The diplomat told the foreign ministry he received the ivory as gifts from officials in Ivory Coast. The items were mistakenly packed in his shipment during a rushed departure amid the civil conflict there.
"That's what he claims… we will decide the level of punishment in line with the result of the investigation," a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
Yonhap news agency, citing diplomatic sources, said Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan urged customs authorities to "take stern measures in line with the law".
International trade in ivory was banned in 1989 but seizures have risen dramatically in the past five years.
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