Scalpers Double Ticket Prices for Popular Korean Concerts Despite Planned Fines
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
Scalped tickets for high-demand Korean concerts are selling at double or more of face value despite government plans to impose punitive fines. Tickets for pianist Yunchan Lim’s Seoul show (R seats 450,000 won) appear on secondhand sites with prices up to 900,000 won; cheaper seats sometimes fetch even higher markups. Pianist Seong-Jin Cho’s 30,000-won choir seats were resold for 200,000–230,000 won, and pop concerts (e.g., Sung Si-kyung, Lim Young-woong) also show heavy reselling. Promoters are tightening ID checks and requiring family documents for pick-up, but cannot fully stop resale after transfer. The government has drafted an “anti-scalping law” to impose up to 50× punitive administrative fines and allow seizure of illicit profits, plus rewards for whistleblowers; the revision passed a parliamentary committee and may be enforced in the latter half of next year after implementing rules. Consumers warn that fines alone won’t stop scalpers who shift platforms, and closed channels (e.g., social media, Telegram) remain hard to police. (R seats: front-row or premium seating category; 매크로: automated ticket-buying software)
