South Korean Rapper’s Home Seized Over Year-Long Unpaid Fines

Number 1 on official charts in 14 countries.

It has been revealed that South Korea’s popular rapper PSY (46) has been involved in a real estate dispute.

According to a report by Korean media outlet BizKorea on November 25, PSY had overdue fines for over a year, which led to the seizure of his home. Before delving into the details of the trouble, let’s take a look back at PSY’s popularity as a K-pop star.

“PSY is a globally famous artist who has even reached second place on the U.S. Billboard charts. His biggest hit is probably ‘Gangnam Style,’ released in July 2012. The promotional video has surpassed 4 billion views.

‘Gangnam Style’ became an explosive breakout song, reaching number one on official charts in 14 countries, including the UK, Germany, and Belgium. Thanks to this global success, PSY was awarded the Cultural Medal, the highest honor in Korean popular culture,” said a reporter from a Korean newspaper.

The real estate dispute dates back to around 16 years ago.

“In September 2008, PSY purchased several units in a luxury villa called ‘The House’ in the prime district of Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, as well as an adjacent building to use as an office. The purchase price was around 280 million yen. After living there with his family until around 2020, he moved to another residence and began renting out the property.

Soon after, complaints were made to Yongsan District Office about unauthorized extensions to ‘The House.’ It seems that PSY connected ‘The House’ with the adjacent office and added concrete walls inside the house. The district office confirmed the extensions and issued a notice for PSY to rectify the situation,” the report continued.

Illegal expansion during the initial construction.

However, PSY did not comply with the correction order. The district office imposed a penalty, but PSY delayed payment for over a year, which led to the seizure of his home. According to the report mentioned earlier, the fine was paid in October this year, and the seizure was lifted, but the expansion has still not been rectified. It was also revealed that during the period of non-payment, PSY had purchased a luxury mansion worth approximately 1.1 billion yen.

In response to the report, PSY’s agency made the following defense:

“We acknowledge that there were illegal expansions during the initial construction of ‘The House.’ The reason for the delay in paying the penalty was simply due to a delay in confirming the notice.”

To have delayed confirmation of an official notice for over a year this has revealed a weakness in the management of the K-pop star.