Last year’s sales in the South Korean Jewelry market reached one billion dollars against the previously recorded $930 million of 2007. In addition the Government plans to reduce import taxes to a record minimum on diamonds and gem imports.

Despite many efforts made from the South Korean authorities the public still remains  uninformed and are not aware of the differences between treated and natural diamonds. Although the South Korean market is still a slow developing market, it is still far from competing with any of the other major authorities such as Japan and China.

Reliable sources inform us that there could be a major cutting works opening soon in South Korea, but a lack of skilled labor force is still in question.

Recent studies revealed that there are still plenty of diamonds certified without proper indications of treatments by the Korean laboratories. Although there is a strong demand for diamonds by the Korean Public for diamonds with colors “D” to “F” and cuts “IF” to “VVS”, there is no guarantee that the demand will remain.

Exlusively for DaimondTopics.Com by BN Baretzky - The Editor