750 Cases Detected Yet ‘Brazen’... Seoul Illegal Parking Unpaid Fines Total 11.3 Billion Won

One in Five People Fail to Pay... Total Unpaid Amount Reaches 11.3 Billion KRW
Eight Individuals Owe Over 20 Million KRW Each in the Past Five Years

This year, it was confirmed that drivers caught violating parking regulations in Seoul have unpaid fines totaling 11.3 billion KRW. Among them, there was even a person who was caught over 750 times but did not pay fines exceeding 40 million KRW.

According to data submitted by Seoul City to Jeong Woo-taek, a member of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee from the People Power Party, the total number of parking violations caught in Seoul from January to August this year was 1,419,223 cases.

When caught for illegal parking, a fine of 40,000 KRW is imposed in general areas for passenger cars. Additionally, fines of 80,000 KRW and 120,000 KRW are imposed in fire safety facilities and children protection zones, respectively.

Accordingly, the total fines imposed from January to August amounted to 55.27174 billion KRW, of which 20.5%, or 11.32148 billion KRW, remain unpaid. This means that one out of five people caught did not pay their fines.

The case with the highest number of violations was Mr. A, who was caught 752 times over five years but has unpaid fines totaling 43 million KRW.

Seoul City traffic enforcement officers are cracking down on illegal parking in school zones around Gangnam-gu.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The case with the largest unpaid amount was Mr. B, who did not pay 44.17 million KRW. Mr. B was caught a total of 565 times for illegal parking over the past five years. In addition, there were eight defaulters who did not pay fines exceeding 20 million KRW over five years, including Mr. C, who was caught 627 times and owes 33.5 million KRW.

By region, Gangnam-gu had the largest unpaid amount among the 25 autonomous districts, with 1.39979 billion KRW (unpaid rate 20.6%). It also had the highest number of parking violations (174,414 cases, 12.3%) and the highest amount of fines imposed (6.80573 billion KRW, 12.3%).

Following Gangnam-gu, Jung-gu and Seocho-gu had large amounts as well. The unpaid fines (unpaid rates) for the two districts were 972.36 million KRW (25.2%) for Jung-gu and 702.42 million KRW (19.8%) for Seocho-gu.

Assemblyman Jeong said, “Illegal parking is a problem in itself as it causes traffic congestion and accidents, resulting in significant social losses.”

He added, “Moreover, the behavior of not paying fines on time is unfair to citizens who pay diligently. Seoul City must strictly enforce the law against chronic defaulters.”

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