37,000 Late Notifications Sent by Jinju City Spark Citizens' Outrage
City Official Apologizes for Inadequate Handling
Jinju City sent out more than 37,000 parking violation fine notices for the past three years all at once, causing residents to protest.
Several posts related to parking violation fines were uploaded on the Jinju City Hall website's "Requests to the Mayor" section.
Resident A, who lives in Jinju, shared a photo of a prior notice for a parking violation issued in November 2021 and stated, "Is it reasonable to send a receipt in December 2023 for a violation that was enforced on November 13, 2021? They said the person in charge changed and then they found and sent it, but this is clearly negligence. If it is negligence, the responsible employee should be held accountable."
Jinju City has sent out more than 37,000 parking violation fine notices from the past three years all at once, sparking backlash from residents. [Photo by Jinju City Hall website]
Another resident, B, revealed notices for violations enforced on May 12 and June 24 of 2021, questioning, "Is it in line with the original purpose of collecting parking violation fines to keep them in a cabinet for two and a half years before issuing fines?"
Jinju City sent out more than 37,000 notices urging payment of unpaid parking violation fines from July 2020 to December 2022 by the end of this month, starting from last month until recently.
The total amount of fines imposed in the notices sent this time as part of Jinju City's effort to settle unpaid fines reaches 1.4 billion KRW.
Resident C of Jinju criticized, "How can parking violation fines from two years ago be issued now? The city's delayed issuance of fine notices is nothing but sloppy administration."
C added, "I don't even remember being fined, and if I had, I would have obviously paid it, so receiving such a notice is so absurd that I have no intention to pay."
Another citizen, D, pointed out, "It's hard to even remember what happened a few days ago, so how could anyone recall a parking violation from several years ago? They are asking for opinions to be submitted by the end of this month, but I doubt there will be any citizens who can properly remember and submit them. A clear apology for Jinju City's delayed administration is necessary."
"Even if the fine notices are from 2-3 years ago, payment is required"
Resident A, living in Jinju City, stated along with a photo of the prior notice for a parking violation issued in November 2021, "Is it reasonable to send the receipt only in December 2023 for a violation that was enforced on November 13, 2021? They said they found it and sent it after the person in charge changed, but this is clear negligence, and if it is negligence, the responsible employee should be held accountable." [Photo by Jinju City Hall website]
This situation occurred because the city either did not properly send fine payment notices or was negligent in managing overdue notices.
A city official explained, "We need to continuously urge payment of fines, but due to the heavy workload and lack of manpower, we were unable to properly manage it. We could not leave unpaid fines amounting to tens of billions of KRW unattended, so we had no choice but to take this measure."
He added, "We empathize with the complaints of citizens who have to bear fines from a long time ago, but even for fine notices from 2-3 years ago, payment is inevitably required."
Meanwhile, local governments impose fines on vehicles violating parking regulations under the Road Traffic Act. Usually, when a parking violation vehicle is caught, a prior notice is sent by registered mail. If the violating driver pays the fine within the 20-day period for submitting an opinion, a 20% reduction is applied. The fine for passenger cars is 40,000 KRW, and with the reduction, it is 32,000 KRW. After the 20-day opinion period ends, two more notices?the prior notice and the main notice?are sent by regular mail.
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