Korean students lend IDs for hefty fee, resell tickets to campus festivals

Listings for tickets to Yonsei University’s Akaraka festival and Akaraka with Alumni posted on secondhand marketplace Bungaejangter on May 13 / Screenshot from Bungaejangter

“I can get you through the student ID check. Just don’t make it too obvious that the admission wristband has been taken off,” one post on an online secondhand marketplace read. Another post said: “The photo on the student ID doesn’t matter because it’s so small. Just say you had plastic surgery, and they’ll let you pass.”

May has arrived, and for Korean university campuses, this means college festivals, K-pop idols on outdoor stages — and, once again, a rampant ticket scalping problem. Students resell their tickets online at hefty prices, while idol fans gladly open their wallets for a chance to pose as college students and see their beloved stars. Organizers have repeatedly introduced stricter identification checks and admission procedures to fend off scalped tickets, but as what happens every year, borrowed student IDs make it difficult to identify illegally obtained tickets.

Underwood Hall / Courtesy of Yonsei University

Scalpers cash in despite outsider ban

A search of secondhand marketplaces and social networks, including X, showed a steady stream of posts selling college festival admission tickets or offering to lend student IDs. Prices varied widely ranging from 100,000 won ($67) to 500,000 won. As of Wednesday, Yonsei University appeared most often in scalping posts, with its “Akaraka with Alumni” festival just days away.

In principle, the festival is closed to outsiders and open only to students, alumni, faculty members and their families, with tickets priced at 39,000 won. Organizers said buyers were required to verify their identities through an alumni-only shopping mall before purchasing tickets, which were then sent via KakaoTalk to phones registered in their own names as a safeguard against scalping.

But when contacted by the reporter posing as a buyer, sellers were quick to offer ways around the enforcement measures. One suggested using a spare phone to log in with the seller’s account and receive the ticket. Another offered to collect the ticket herself, then hand over the paper admission wristband. Some sellers also offered to share small tricks, including how to wear the wristband loose enough to slip off later or how to remove and reattach it without leaving a visible mark — but asked for an extra payment of 200,000 won on top of the initial ticket price.

Posts on X offering to lend student IDs / Captured from X

ID misuse could lead to expulsion, campuses warn

Even free campus festivals have not escaped the problem of borrowed student IDs and under-the-table transactions. Demand for access to “student zones,” often located near the stage, has created a market for spots that are supposed to be free. Some have resorted to borrowing everything needed to pass identity checks, including proof of student council fee payments, department jackets, mobile student IDs and even accounts on Everytime, an anonymous online community for college students.

Perpetual ticket scalping has led some campus to take drastic measures to tackle the problem. Ahead of Thursday’s festival featuring NCT WISH, organizers from the Seoul National University Student Council warned that students caught misusing or transferring student IDs could face disciplinary action ranging from probation and suspension to expulsion, depending on the severity of the case.

“Police will be present at the scene, and criminal punishment may follow,” the notice warned.

Some have begun criticizing campus festivals as too centered on celebrity performances, saying the trend dilutes the original purpose of the events.

“Festivals no longer feel like events for members of the school community to enjoy together, but events for fandoms,” said Jeon, a 25-year-old student at a private university in Seoul. “The same situation keeps happening, where actual students cannot get tickets or face inconvenience when trying to watch the performances.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.