As part of the government’s move to regularize the underground economy, the Korea Customs Service will seek access to the credit card expenditures of overseas travelers, despite disputes over privacy.

Back in March, shortly after the new presidential office kicked off, the KCS submitted a bill to give customs authorities access to overseas credit card use on a monthly basis. Currently, the office only receives a yearly report from the Credit Finance Association.

The idea was suggested as a means to prevent tax dodging or capital flight of assets held by the rich, especially those who spend $20,000 or more a year overseas.

The new monthly monitoring system is expected to boost total tax receipts by up to 10 billion won ($8.8 million) per year, according to officials.

The bill, however, was faced with the criticism that it would excessively expose the personal information of the card owners and thus was rejected in the parliament’s June provisional session.

“By breaking down the usage and limiting the range of information, we may avoid infringing on people’s rights of privacy,” said one lawmaker who opposed the bill but wished to remain anonymous.

Others say despite this downside, the bill will help significantly reduce fraud.

“Considering the recent set of scandals on property concealment, this reinforced credit card monitoring system is vital to improve the nation’s financial soundness,” said one KCS official.

As a follow-up measure, the customs office is set to go through with a secondary revision to the bill to exclude hotels and restaurants from the itemized statement.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)