"We Will Crack Down on Apartment Price Collusion"... Seoul Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau to Focus on Market-Disrupting Practices

Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau to Focus Investigative Capacity on Real Estate and Illegal Private Financing
Targets Include Apartment Price Collusion and Illegal Transactions
Crackdowns to Also Cover Illegal Dog Cafes and Harmful Food and Drug Products

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will launch intensive crackdowns on market-disrupting practices that lead apartment price collusion. In particular, it has decided to focus its administrative capacity throughout the year on planned investigations targeting illegal private financing that victimizes small self-employed business owners.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau, a dedicated special judicial police organization composed of administrative officials who investigate crimes, announced on the 5th that it will fully implement its "2026 Annual Investigation Plan," which centers on these measures.

Seoul City's Civil Affairs and Judicial Police Bureau said it will intensively crack down on and investigate apartment price collusion and reports of illegal transactions this year. The photo shows a real estate agent's office located within a large apartment complex in Seoul. Photo by The Asia Business Daily

Last year, the Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau uncovered and investigated crimes harming people’s livelihoods across a wide range of areas, including real estate, illegal lending, counterfeit goods, and public health and wellness.

Expecting high volatility in the Seoul real estate market this year, the bureau will conduct intensive crackdowns and investigations into apartment price collusion and illegal transaction reports in order to eradicate market-disrupting practices that threaten sound transaction order. In particular, it will focus on large apartment complex clusters where price increases are pronounced, combining online monitoring with on-site inquiries to detect illegal activities and then carry out high-intensity investigations. Last year, the bureau identified apartment owners who led housing price collusion and, for the first time in Seoul, referred them to the prosecution, sending a strong warning against such illegal practices.

In addition, it plans to strictly investigate and crack down on illegal activities that distort the real estate market by closely analyzing abnormal transactions, such as canceling contracts after reporting actual apartment transaction prices or failing to register ownership for an extended period.

The city will also work to eradicate illegal private financing through year-round planned investigations. It will crack down on and investigate new forms of unregistered illegal lending businesses run by franchise headquarters, in order to prevent damage in advance to vulnerable franchisees. To this end, it will establish a task force dedicated to planned investigations into illegal private financing, focus inquiries on self-employed sectors such as small franchisees and small and medium-sized traditional markets, and conduct continuous inspections of major online loan brokerage sites that are easy to search. In November last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government uncovered an 83.1 billion won unregistered illegal lending case in which the headquarters of a franchise brand, referred to as M Franchise, abused its superior bargaining position to commit offenses against its franchisees, and referred the case to the prosecution.

The city will also respond with year-round planned investigations to everyday, close-to-home crimes that harm citizens’ daily lives. Representative examples include unregistered animal boarding and care facilities such as dog cafes, products that falsely advertise or indicate excessive medical efficacy and effects, large-scale corporate-type illegal short-term rental accommodations, and automobile parts companies that illegally discharge wastewater.

Crackdowns will also be strengthened on harmful establishments and drugs targeting youth, the future generation. The city will reinforce monitoring of illegal activities spreading online and will carry out crackdowns and prevention efforts in parallel through cooperation with related agencies such as the Office of Education. In addition, as livelihood-related crimes rapidly spread online, it will enhance its online response capabilities. To strengthen expertise in monitoring various illegal activities online, it will establish an "Intelligent Crime Investigation Team" centered on IT investigation officers, and will also fully operate a crime reporting and counseling channel for teenagers in the form of an open-chat room on social media.

Byun Kyungok, Director General of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau, said, "We will focus our investigative capabilities on livelihood-related crimes that make life difficult for low-income citizens and undermine the healthy daily lives of residents," adding, "Citizen reports are essential to promptly detect such crimes, so we ask you to report them to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Bureau."