A South Korean lawmaker claimed on Thursday that a significant portion of evasion of customs duties in the country is being committed by multinational companies based overseas.

According to data submitted by the Korea Customs Service(KCS) to Saenuri Party Rep. Park Myung-jae, the KCS forcibly collected 501-point-four billion won worth of unpaid customs duties last year, up 18-point-six percent from a year earlier.

A total of 136 multinational companies turned out to have evaded paying customs duties last year. They had to pay 276-point-three billion won, which accounts for 55 percent of the unpaid amount that the KCS forcibly collected.

In the first eight months of this year, multinational companies were revealed to have evaded paying 157-point-eight billion won, or 69 percent of all unpaid customs duties during the period.