South Korea will impose fines of up to 50 times the sale price on anyone who illegally resells tickets to performances or sporting events, with whistleblowers eligible to receive 50% of the fine imposed.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said enforcement decrees under the Public Performance Act and the National Sports Promotion Act take effect on the 28th, setting out obligations for ticket sellers and online marketplace operators, standards for calculating fines and procedures for paying whistleblower rewards.
The two laws, revised in February, banned all fraudulent purchases and resales regardless of whether automated macro programs were used, required businesses to take preventive measures, provided for the designation and operational support of reporting agencies, introduced whistleblower rewards, allowed fines of up to 50 times the sale price and permitted the confiscation of illicit gains. The revised decrees, timed to the laws taking effect on the 28th, spell out the business obligations delegated under the amended statutes, the requirements for designating reporting agencies and the standards for calculating rewards and fines.
The amended laws newly require ticket sellers and online marketplace operators to adopt technical and administrative measures to prevent fraudulent purchases and resales. Under the decrees, those obligations include identity verification, operating a reporting function, posting notice of possible sanctions such as restricting the visibility of listings and imposing fines, and restricting the visibility of listings at the request of reporting agencies.
The decrees also lay out detailed procedures for designating reporting agencies and requesting data. Reporting agencies may ask ticket sellers and platform operators for information on those who posted listings tied to fraudulent purchases or resales, along with network access logs. Ticket sellers and online marketplace operators must comply with data requests absent legitimate grounds for refusal, and face fines of up to 5 million won for submitting false data or failing to submit it.
The government is imposing steep fines to give the sanctions more force. In line with the amended laws allowing fines of up to 50 times the sale price on illegal resellers, the decrees establish a sliding scale ranging from two times to 50 times the sale price, depending on the number of tickets involved and the amounts. Transfers of tickets within the bounds of what ordinary people would consider reasonable, however, will be judged on whether they constitute illegal resale after weighing the legal requirements and other factors. The decrees also set standards for reducing fines based on the scale of gains from a violation and whether the party cooperated with investigators.
The decrees further specify the standards for rewards paid to those who report fraudulent purchases or resales to reporting agencies or investigative authorities. Reports of fraudulent purchases carry rewards of up to 50 million won, while reports of fraudulent resales carry rewards of up to 50% of the fine imposed on the violator. The ministry expects the fines and reward system to give fresh momentum to preventing and detecting ticket scalping.
Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young chaired a public-private joint inspection meeting on ticket scalping at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul's Jongno district that day. "Scalping is a clear criminal act that disrupts order in the performance and sports markets," the minister said. "Public-private cooperation is needed to build a fair and mature spectator culture."
The ministry also said it will move quickly to revise the Promotion of the Motion Pictures and Video Products Act, reflecting calls from the industry to close regulatory gaps over ticket scalping at movie theaters, a problem that has recently centered on premium screening formats.
