SEOUL, March 05 (AJP) - South Korean authorities are rolling out a dedicated counter-scalping system to protect fans ahead of the upcoming BTS comeback concert at Gwanghwamun Square on March 21. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism confirmed the plan following a surge in illegal ticket trading for the high-profile event.
Choi Hwi-young, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, called ticket scalping a "chronic disease" during a press briefing on February 12. The minister said that the government is monitoring the situation with extra care because free events, like the "BTS The Comeback Live: ARIRANG" show, often see even more aggressive resale activity than paid concerts.
The ministry is coordinating its response through a specialized subcommittee of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee. This group includes officials from the ministry and HYBE, the management agency for BTS. The culture minister noted that while the government has developed specific countermeasures, it will not reveal the technical details to prevent scalpers from finding ways to bypass the new safeguards.
The concert is expected to draw a crowd of about 15,000 to the landmark civic square in Seoul. Although the tickets are free, concerns are high that prices on the black market could skyrocket. During the group’s 2022 concert held in the southern port city of Busan, tickets for the free show reportedly reached prices as high as 4 million won ($2,731).
According to data from the Korea Creative Content Agency, suspected online scalping cases have skyrocketed from 6,237 in 2020 to more than 259,000 as of August 2025. Approximately 75 percent of the cases reported in 2024 involved music performances, with many scalpers using automated "macro" software to snatch up tickets the moment they are released.
To combat this, the South Korean government passed amendments to the Public Performance Act on January 29. The new rules ban the use of macro programs for ticket purchases and allow the state to confiscate profits from illegal sales. Violators could face fines up to 50 times the amount of the original resale price, though the law will not be fully enforced until later this year.
The crackdown also involves tax authorities, who recently identified 17 high-volume professional scalpers. These individuals, who included public-sector employees and business owners, allegedly moved more than 20 billion won worth of tickets through illegal channels.
Minister Choi said the government will lead a public campaign to discourage ticket hoarding and illegal sales before the new legal penalties take full effect. He stated that the goal is to see a significant reduction in scalping during the busy autumn performance season.
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