Seoul Tourism Police Unit Cracks Down on 305 Illegal Lodging Cases... Most in Mapo

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Tourist Police Unit announced on the 3rd that they conducted crackdowns on illegal unregistered lodging businesses at major tourist sites in Seoul, resulting in 305 cases being cracked down on and 85 business owners being caught. All the business owners were Korean and were known to have operated using applications such as Airbnb. By region, the numbers were highest in Mapo with 127 cases, followed by Jung-gu with 73, Gangnam with 66, Yongsan with 23, Yeongdeungpo with 15, and Jongno with 1.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Tourism Police Unit conducting a crackdown on illegal lodging establishments
[Image provided by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency]

This crackdown was carried out over six weeks from March 20 to the 30th of last month to eradicate illegal activities in tourist areas due to the increase in foreign tourists. Among the business owners caught, nine operated more than 10 lodging facilities as corporate-type businesses on their own. Additionally, 47 owners were caught illegally operating one room each. These operators either ran entire rooms illegally without reporting to the district office or officially registered only some rooms while operating the rest illegally without any registration.

The police conducted the crackdown by requesting cooperation from foreigners pulling suitcases near locations suspected of housing unregistered lodging businesses. This approach was necessary because specific addresses do not appear on reservation apps before payment.

One business even obstructed the crackdown by instructing tourists on how to respond when police officers visited. Guests were informed that they were not obligated to open the door for the police and, if questioned, to say they were visiting a friend's house.

Illegal unregistered lodging businesses have issues such as failing to meet safety and fire facility standards due to lack of management and supervision, and not undergoing regular hygiene inspections. The absence of on-site managers also raises concerns about crimes such as illegal filming and drug use.

Jo Byeong-no, head of the Life Safety Department at the Seoul Police Agency, said, “As the number of foreign tourists continues to increase, illegal lodging businesses and other illegal activities related to tourism are expected to rise. We will promote tailored policing activities through periodic and location-based data analysis of illegal activities that may occur in major tourist areas.”

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