[2025 Audit] "Reselling at a Premium Must Be Illegal"... Minister Hwee-Young Choi Urges Revision of Anti-Scalping Law

"No Need to Determine Macro Use
...Legal Ban Needed for Effective Crackdown"

Choi Hwiyoung, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Yonhap News Agency

Hwee-Young Choi, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, called for a revision of the law regarding the issue of scalping tickets for performances and sports events, stating, "The act of reselling tickets at a premium must be banned altogether."

At the comprehensive parliamentary audit of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 29th, Minister Choi said, "In practice, it is virtually impossible to determine whether ticketing was done using macros," and added, "Fundamentally, there needs to be a system where buying tickets and then reselling them at a premium is itself illegal."

The current law only penalizes illegal ticket purchases made using macro programs. Authorities have no power to crack down on cases where tickets are purchased legitimately and then resold at high prices on online platforms.

Recently, as tickets for the Korean Series in professional baseball soared to as much as 9.99 million won on the scalping website 'Ticketbay,' criticism has mounted that "the government is effectively turning a blind eye."

Minister Choi said, "This undermines a healthy viewing culture across all fields of performances and sports," and stressed, "It makes no sense that tickets can be openly resold at hundreds of thousands of won above face value and yet there is no way to crack down on it."

He went on to emphasize, "The amendment must be passed during this session," and said, "Once there is a legal basis, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will directly step in to root out scalping."

Minister Choi had also stated at the parliamentary audit on the 14th, "It is realistically difficult to determine whether macros are being used," and emphasized the need for grounds to regulate all scalping activities.

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