Taking a swing at tax cheats

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea went after suspected tax cheats at the weekend by taking away their memberships in pricy golf clubs, saying if they can afford the clubs then they should be able to pay their fair share to the government.

Golf club memberships are beyond the reach of most South Koreans, with entry into mid-level clubs costing about $200,000 to $300,000 and membership for top clubs costing as much as $1 million.

"Those who have memberships can easily pay taxes if they want to -- so we generally see them as evading taxes on purpose and having a low awareness of tax laws," said an official with the National Tax Service.

At the weekend, the government seized 960 memberships, the tax service said in a news release.

If the tax agency cannot reach a settlement on back taxes with a suspected tax cheat, it sells the confiscated memberships to the public to generate cash.

Last year, it confiscated 1,720 golf club memberships and was able to recover tens of millions of dollars in back taxes.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Kim Junghyun; Editing by Nick Macfie)