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6 face charges of illegal SRT booking ahead of Chuseok

Published: 24 Sep. 2025, 17:18

People make a reservation for SRT high-speed train service tickets at Suseo Station in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Sept. 22, ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday in October. The reservation period for trains running from Oct. 2 through Oct. 12 is divided into priority booking for individuals reliant on public transportation and general booking for the public. [YONHAP]

A total of six people have been caught using illegal macro programs to purchase or attempt to purchase tickets for the Super Rapid Train (SRT).

The Seoul Suseo Police Precinct said Wednesday that the suspects have been referred to the prosecution on charges of obstruction of business.

Investigators found that the suspects either developed their own malicious macro programs or downloaded them online. These programs allowed users to automatically repeat mass log-ins and bookings at designated times, giving them unauthorized access to the SRT’s ticketing system and disrupting normal operations.

Police confirmed that the scheme deprived ordinary passengers — many trying to visit their hometowns for the holidays — of opportunities to buy tickets, while also straining SRT’s reservation system.

“The ticket reservation system is a public service that must be accessible to the public on fair terms,” an official from the Suseo Police Precinct said. “Using macro programs to manipulate it is clearly illegal and constitutes a serious crime that causes inconvenience to the public.”

Police added that they have been cracking down on online ticket purchases made with illegal macro programs since July and will continue through the end of December.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]