Joint Crackdown on Tax Delinquencies and Ghost Cars... Seoul City and 5 Related Agencies Including the Police Agency Conduct First Joint Operation

From 7 AM to 5 PM on the 9th, over 250 personnel from related agencies deployed

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government, in collaboration with 25 autonomous districts, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and Korea Expressway Corporation, conducted a focused crackdown on vehicles with overdue automobile taxes, highway toll fees, and so-called 'daepocha' (ghost cars).

According to Seoul City at 9 a.m., from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the same day, the city and related agencies deployed over 250 staff members to carry out the first-ever simultaneous crackdown on vehicles habitually delinquent in automobile tax, speeding and signal violation fines, and highway toll fees, as well as vehicles suspected of being used for criminal activities, known as 'daepocha,' across the entire Seoul area and the Guri-Namyangju Tollgate.

The operation involved about 250 personnel, including 38 tax collection investigators from Seoul City, 50 vehicles equipped with license plate recognition systems, 33 police patrol cars and motorcycles, and tow trucks. When delinquent vehicles were identified on-site, payment was encouraged; if payment was not made, license plates were immediately confiscated and the vehicles were towed.

A Seoul city official stated, “Due to the COVID-19 situation, joint crackdowns involving related agencies had been restrained, but as automobile-related arrears have been accumulating across agencies and there is a need to send a warning to habitual defaulters, we decided to conduct an unannounced crackdown.”

At the Guri-Namyangju Tollgate located in Guri City, a special crackdown was conducted targeting vehicles using the tollgate that habitually failed to pay taxes, traffic fines, or highway toll fees, with some vehicles owing dozens to hundreds of unpaid charges while using the highway. Approximately 3.15 million vehicles are registered in Seoul, with 94,000 vehicles having missed automobile tax payments more than twice, amounting to a total delinquent tax of 45.4 billion KRW.

For vehicles registered to closed corporations and habitual or high-amount defaulters, prior investigations were conducted to locate their registration or parking places, and immediate forced towing was carried out based on the Local Tax Collection Act. Vehicles with confiscated license plates during this crackdown must visit the tax department of the district office or police station listed on the confiscation certificate and pay all outstanding amounts to retrieve their plates.

A police official said, “Through this joint crackdown, we aim to restrict the operation of vehicles belonging to habitual violators of traffic laws who have repeatedly failed to pay automobile fines, thereby promoting citizen safety. We also expect to contribute to establishing an advanced traffic order by improving fine collection rates and fostering citizens' compliance awareness.”

Lee Byung-han, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Finance Bureau, said, “Seoul has been conducting strong and diverse collection activities to realize tax justice, and will continue to enhance the effectiveness of crackdowns on delinquent vehicles and promote citizens’ tax payment awareness through joint operations with related agencies. We will relentlessly pursue and collect from unscrupulous defaulters who not only fail to pay automobile taxes and fines but also evade highway toll fees, ensuring that diligent taxpayers do not feel relatively deprived through strict law enforcement.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.