Police Collect 101.6 Billion Won from Long-term Traffic Fine Evaders... Licenses Revoked

Conversion of Fines to Penalty Surcharges

11 Cases of Driver’s License Suspension or Revocation

The police have launched a special crackdown on drivers who violate traffic laws and fail to pay fines, forcibly collecting a total of 101.6 billion won in overdue fines and through asset seizures, and in some cases, revoking driver's licenses depending on the severity of the offense.

The National Police Agency announced on May 10 that, as part of efforts to eradicate overdue traffic fines, it has implemented stricter enforcement measures since January this year, including special crackdowns such as seizing vehicle license plates. As a result, the police have seized license plates from 72,676 vehicles. A total of 31.8 billion won in overdue traffic fines has been collected, and assets such as vehicles and bank deposits amounting to 69.8 billion won have been seized from those in arrears.

Seodaemun-gu Police Agency, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

In particular, the police focused on investigating whether those in arrears were actually driving during on-site crackdowns and plate seizures. If it was confirmed that the person who had overdue fines was indeed driving the vehicle and had committed a traffic violation, the original fine was canceled and converted into a penalty surcharge. In such cases, demerit points are imposed on the driver’s license, and depending on the point total, the license can be suspended or revoked. During this year's crackdown period, there were 409 cases where fines were converted to penalty surcharges, and as a result, 11 driver's license suspensions or revocations were executed.

During the crackdown, the police also apprehended 32 individuals who were on the wanted list. In addition, 134 cases were detected involving violations such as operating vehicles under a suspension order, vehicles registered under illegal names, and driving without mandatory insurance, all of which are subject to criminal prosecution.

An official from the National Police Agency stated, “We will continue to rigorously track down and severely punish habitual and long-term offenders. In the second half of the year, we will strengthen collection efforts even further by cooperating with the National Tax Service to locate addresses of those in arrears and notify them of their outstanding fines.”

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