Korean Taxpayers Alliance raises concerns over tax info leak involving ASTRO's Cha Eun-woo and plans to report responsible parties.
February/10/2026 12:29Related Groups & Members
The Korean Taxpayers Alliance, a tax specialist civic group, raised suspicions of tax information leakage following the tax-related turmoil involving ASTRO's Cha Eun-woo and clarified their policy for legal action. They view the leakage of information related to tax investigations as problematic and are expected to report the involved parties to the police. The Alliance stated yesterday (the 9th), "Tomorrow (the 10th) at 11 AM, we plan to report the unnamed tax official who leaked Cha Eun-woo's tax investigation-related information to the media, as well as the journalist who first reported it, for violations of the Personal Information Protection Act and suspicions of leaking public secrets under criminal law to the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency." They emphasized that the leakage of tax information itself is illegal and raised the need for truth verification at the National Tax Service level. The organization has previously expressed opinions on related matters, stating, "Tax avoidance is a taxpayer's right. If tax avoidance is successful, it becomes 'tax saving,' and if it fails, it becomes 'tax evasion,'" pointing out the complexity in distinguishing between tax saving and tax evasion. They also explained that taxpayers can assert their legal rights to reduce or avoid taxes imposed on them within the limits allowed by law, which should not be a problem. They criticized the process of disclosing tax information, stating, "The leakage of tax information is illegal," and argued that information regarding tax investigations of celebrities is difficult to report in the media without leakage by tax officials. They claimed that if the head of the National Tax Service does not investigate the existence of leaks and merely observes, it constitutes 'dereliction of duty.' Furthermore, they added that the National Tax Service should identify and severely punish the public officials who leaked Cha Eun-woo's tax information. It was recently revealed that Cha Eun-woo received a notification for additional taxation of around 20 billion won (approximately 2 billion yen) after being investigated by the 4th Investigation Bureau of the Seoul Regional National Tax Service last year. In response, Cha Eun-woo has requested a pre-tax eligibility review and is awaiting the results. His agency also stated that they will actively explain in accordance with the procedures.
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