In South Korea, the National Police Agency has announced that since the beginning of the year, more than 20,000 vehicles have had their registration plates seized due to unpaid traffic fines. As of April 9, authorities have confiscated 23,133 plates and collected around 10 billion won in unpaid fines. This action is part of a special crackdown that started in January to enhance the collection of overdue traffic fines, focusing particularly on those who have accumulated fines of 300,000 won or more and have been overdue for more than 60 days.

The police are not only seizing license plates but also changing the status of uncollected fines into penal fees when traffic violations by delinquent payers are confirmed. As a consequence, in 12 cases this year, offenders have received penal fees, with some even having their driving licenses revoked. Furthermore, the authorities have executed financial seizures on vehicles and bank accounts of the offenders, with collection amounts reaching 26.8 billion won and 4.7 billion won, respectively, marking an increase of approximately 32.7% and 16.1% compared to the same period last year.

This special crackdown is intended to address the problem of growing delinquent fines caused by a minority of recurrent offenders, despite the fact that approximately 95% of traffic fines are paid diligently. Kim Ho-seung, head of the Safety and Traffic Bureau, emphasized the need to correct the misconception that not paying traffic fines is acceptable and stressed that those who pay their fines on time should not feel disadvantaged. The special enforcement will continue until April, and during the license plate seizure process, investigations into actual driving will be conducted, leading to penal fee conversions and points being assigned against driving licenses as necessary.