INCHEON — Operators who leased officetels near Incheon International Airport and ran unregistered lodging businesses through online platforms have been caught in a sweep by Incheon's special judicial police.
The Incheon Special Judicial Police said on the 23rd that a targeted investigation of officetels around Incheon International Airport on Yeongjong Island uncovered eight unregistered illegal lodging businesses.
The operators converted residential officetels — buildings that cannot be registered as lodging facilities under the Building Act — into guest rooms and listed them on online home-sharing platforms to draw domestic and international air travelers. Exploiting the fact that the units are hard to distinguish from ordinary residential buildings, they used a classic hands-off, no-contact method, texting guests the door code and check-in and check-out instructions on the day of their stay.
The officetels housing these businesses are not subject to the stricter safety standards required of lodging facilities under fire safety law. Exempt from regular fire inspections and from requirements to expand evacuation equipment, they were left fully exposed to the risk of mass casualties in the event of a fire or similar emergency.
Under the Public Health Control Act, operating a lodging business without filing with the local government carries up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won ($14,000). The city's special judicial police plan to book all eight operators on criminal charges and refer them to prosecutors. Anticipating more such violations, the unit will also expand joint crackdowns with county and district offices, focusing on areas with heavy concentrations of officetels.
"Unregistered illegal lodging businesses do not undergo safety inspections, so the damage can spiral out of control if an accident occurs," said Choi Jong-mun, head of the city's Special Judicial Police Division. "We will thoroughly crack down on covert operations in officetels around the airport and elsewhere in the city to protect guests' safety and establish sound order in the lodging industry."