HYBE has reportedly been ordered to pay an additional $90K in waste disposal fees.

According to reports on October 24, HYBE reported an annual revenue of 2.18 trillion won ($1.6 billion USD) instead of 20 trillion won ($15 billion USD), leading to a failure to pay waste disposal fees amounting to about 120 million won ($90K USD).

The Korea Environment Corporation revealed HYBE produced 1,397 tons of plastic in 2023. Of the plastic emitted last year, 1,249 tons (89%) were used for album production, while 148 tons (11%) were used for merchandise production. Under current South Korean law, companies that manufacture and import hard-to-recycle plastic waste are required to pay waste disposal fees. These companies must input their sales revenue, emission amounts, and supporting documents into the waste disposal fee system operated by the Environment Corporation, which then automatically calculates the fees and notifies the companies.

According to HYBE's financial statements, their revenue for 2023 was approximately 2.18 trillion won ($1.6 billion USD). Considering the amount of plastic emitted last year, the waste disposal fee HYBE should have paid is 275.83 million won ($206K USD). However, HYBE entered a revenue figure of 2.18 billion won into the corporation's system, omitting three zeros. As a result, their waste disposal fee was calculated at 149.64 million won ($112K USD).

The Korea Environment Corporation did not recognize this error and issued a notification in April, receiving payment in May. A representative pointed out that the corporation was unaware of HYBE's reduced revenue reporting until he raised the issue last month. On October 11, the Korea Environment Corporation sent an additional notification to HYBE for the unpaid amount of 125.12 million won ($90K USD), with a payment deadline by the end of this month.

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