Corona19 Spread Also Hits Victims of the Lime Scandal

Cooling Down the Heated Atmosphere
Rallies and Gatherings Canceled One After Another

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji-hwan Park] The spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has extended to the Lime Asset Management redemption suspension incident, which is feared to cause losses in the trillions of won. Last week, victims of the Lime fund redemption suspension had been escalating their response with large-scale protests and rallies against Lime Asset Management, sales agencies, and financial authorities, but the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted their future schedules.

According to the financial investment industry on the 25th, members of the victim group of Lime Asset Management and Daishin Securities decided not to hold the rally scheduled for the 28th. This puts a brake on the atmosphere where the crowd and voices had been growing as they held rallies every Saturday. On the 14th, they held a rally urging compensation for Lime fund redemptions in front of Daishin Securities headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, and the Financial Supervisory Service in Yeouido. On the 21st, they held a rally demanding a strict investigation into the Lime Asset Management case in front of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul.

A representative of the Lime Asset Management and Daishin Securities victim group said, "We decided not to hold the Lime Asset Management victim group rally this week due to the expansion of COVID-19," adding, "We revised the schedule so that only some related parties visit the National Assembly with a reduced scale."

The same applies to other victim groups. Currently, victims of the Lime fund redemption suspension at Woori Bank have temporarily postponed a protest originally planned for the 22nd at Woori Bank’s headquarters in Jung-gu. Recently, this movement follows Seoul City's ban on rallies at Gwanghwamun and Cheonggye Plaza from the 21st due to the spread of COVID-19, and the government's request to refrain from gatherings or rallies involving many people for the time being.

Victims of the Lime Asset Management incident regard this as a natural step due to the COVID-19 spread but are cautious about the recent cooling of public opinion, which had been heated up.

A victim related to the Lime incident expressed regret, saying, "Until last week, the Lime incident was referred to as the 'financial Sewol ferry' and attracted great attention as a major financial fraud case, but recently, due to the spread of COVID-19, public opinion is rapidly calming down."

The Lime incident victims plan to minimize face-to-face protests for the time being while focusing on gathering investors' voices as much as possible through the Blue House petition board and online channels.