“K-Pop Star’s Concert Tickets Reselling for 5 Million Won? This Practice Is About to End”

• ACRC Recommends the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to Strengthen Measures Against Illegal Ticket Reselling for Concerts and Sports Events

(September 12, 2024, ACRC)

Going forward, anyone caught reselling concert or sports tickets at inflated prices for profit – whether purchased through automated bots or not – will face criminal penalties.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Ryu Chul Whan) has recommended policy reforms to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to curb the illegal resale of concert and sports event tickets.

In recent years, ticket prices for major events, such as concerts by high-profile artists and special sports matches, have skyrocketed on secondary markets, with some tickets reselling for hundreds of thousands or even millions of won. For example, last year, resale prices for K-pop star B’s concert tickets surpassed 5 million won online.

Scalpers often use macro programs* to snap up tickets, which they then resell at heavily inflated prices on online platforms, turning the practice into an organized and highly profitable operation.

*Macro programs are software designed to automate repetitive tasks, often used in the context of ticket purchases to secure seats instantly.

Although amendments were made to the Performance Act and the National Sports Promotion Act earlier this year to penalize ticket scalping, the current law only applies to those who use macro programs when purchasing tickets, leaving a loophole in the enforcement of scalping regulations.

To close this gap, the ACRC’s plenary session on August 26 concluded that further legislative reforms are necessary to penalize all forms of ticket scalping, regardless of the method used to obtain the tickets.

Key recommendations include:

▴ Prohibiting the resale of tickets at inflated prices for commercial gain, regardless of whether macro programs were used.

▴ Introducing rules to confiscate and forfeit profits made from illegal ticket sales.

▴ Increasing the penalties for violations, including steeper fines and more severe criminal charges.

▴ Implementing tiered penalties based on the scale of the violation to significantly deter potential scalpers by reducing the financial benefits of illegal reselling.

In addition, the ACRC proposed defining the “face value” of tickets as the official price and treating any resale above this price as illegal. The ACRC also recommended designating a suitable agency to oversee ticket resale violations and establishing a clear legal framework for effectively addressing reports of scalping.

ACRC Chairperson Ryu Chul Whan emphasized, “The exorbitant prices caused by scalping not only deprive genuine fans of the opportunity to attend performances or sports events but also hinder the long-term growth of the culture and sports industries.”

He added, “We hope this policy reform will cultivate a healthier ticketing culture, offering the public with fairer access to leisure activities, while also driving further development in Korea’s cultural and sports sectors.”