Yoon: "Illegal Private Loans, Malicious Exploiters Draining the Vulnerable... Pushing for Harsher Sentencing Guidelines" (Comprehensive)

Illegal Private Loan Livelihood Field Meeting
Calls for Mental and Physical Compensation Measures for Victims

President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 9th instructed, regarding the behavior of illegal private loans, "Strongly punish the vicious criminals who suck the blood of the weak so that they regret their crimes for life, and if necessary, push for legal amendments and the raising of sentencing standards." This came just eight days after he publicly criticized monopolistic practices such as Kakao Taxi's call fees and banks' loan and interest businesses.

On the same day, President Yoon held a 'Illegal Private Loan Livelihood Field Meeting' at the Financial Supervisory Service in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, and said, "Strongly respond to illegal private loans targeting ordinary citizens and socially vulnerable people who have been pushed out of the institutional financial sector due to global high interest rates and lack of collateral and credit."

President Yoon's remarks on illegal private loans are interpreted as a firm will not to tolerate social problems that disrupt people's livelihoods. Earlier, on the 1st, at the 21st Emergency Economic Livelihood Meeting 'Livelihood Town Hall' held at a cafe in Mapo-gu, Seoul, when a citizen raised issues about Kakao Taxi's call fee setting and banks' loan conditions and interest businesses, President Yoon criticized Kakao and banks for immorally abusing their monopolistic positions and engaging in power harassment, emphasizing the need to correct this.

President Yoon first said, "After hearing about the case of three mothers and daughters who took extreme measures because they could not endure debt collection from illegal loan sharks, I felt very sorry and heartbroken," and criticized, "High-interest loans and illegal debt collection are truly vicious crimes." He added, "Protecting ordinary citizens and vulnerable groups from livelihood predatory crimes is the basic duty of the state. They must be eradicated, and victim relief must be practically achieved."

President Yoon mentioned recent illegal private loan cases such as lending small amounts through fan cafes and game communities with proxy deposits, charging interest rates in the 5000% range, and committing threats and assaults; lending 1 million won using a friend's contact information as collateral with an annual interest rate of 5200% and committing sexual exploitation. He raised his voice again, saying, "These crimes trample on individuals' lives, annihilate human rights, and destroy families and society, making them extremely malicious cancerous entities."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon said, "If we leave these unchecked and fail to completely eliminate them, it will be difficult to call our society a free democratic society. Since last year, I have instructed relevant agencies to strongly punish and sanction illegal private loans, and last week, 57 illegal private loan companies were massively caught in Incheon."

He reiterated strict measures against illegal private loans. President Yoon especially said, "Trace and recover all criminal proceeds of illegal loan sharks, including assets under false names. In particular, I hope the National Tax Service will take measures so that not a single won of profits obtained from illegal private loans can be concealed through extensive and strong tax investigations." He added, "Please also devise various measures to use the recovered criminal proceeds for victim relief and to ensure that victims can be compensated for their mental and physical suffering."

At the meeting that day, discussions were held on the current status of illegal private loans targeting vulnerable groups taking advantage of the recent high-interest rate situation and the response direction, together with ministers of related ministries, victims of illegal private loans, and field officials.

After Bang Gi-seon, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, presented the actual conditions of illegal private loans and the status of the government-wide task force (TF) promotion, victims of illegal private loans and counseling personnel shared their experiences and opinions. The Presidential Office reported that in-depth discussions were then held among participants on eradicating illegal private loans and supporting victims.

About 20 field officials, including victims of illegal private loans, victim counseling personnel, and investigators from the National Police Agency, attended the event. From the government and authorities, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, Director Bang Gi-seon, Commissioner of the National Tax Service Kim Chang-gi, Commissioner of the National Police Agency Yoon Hee-geun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service Lee Bok-hyun, Chief of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Park Se-hyun, and Director of the Financial Consumer Protection Department of the Financial Supervisory Service Kim Mi-young attended. From the National Assembly, People Power Party Leader Kim Ki-hyun and Policy Committee Chairman Yoo Ui-dong attended, and from the Presidential Office, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Lee Jin-bok and Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok were present.