Lee Jae-myung's 'Illegal River Valley Crackdown' Met with Government Response... Punishments Doubled

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The government has decided to double the penalties for unauthorized occupation, use, or damage of small rivers. Gyeonggi Province immediately expressed its support. Since September last year, under the direction of Governor Lee Jae-myung of Gyeonggi Province, the province has been conducting removal operations of illegal rivers and valleys within the province.

According to the province on the 21st, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced a legislative notice on the amendment to the Small River Maintenance Act, which allows for imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won for unauthorized occupation, use, or damage of small river areas or facilities. Previously, the penalty was imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to 5 million won for such acts.

The amendment also introduces a special provision allowing the removal of illegal occupations without going through the usual administrative execution procedures when urgent flood prevention measures are necessary.

The province issued a statement welcoming the legislative notice immediately.

In the statement, the province said, "Since last summer, Gyeonggi Province has been promoting the restoration of clean valleys and has continuously requested the central government and political circles to strengthen penalties for illegal acts since September last year to improve the problems of the current system. We are confident that this legislative notice will serve as a starting point that reflects the public’s will that no longer tolerates some unfairly monopolizing what belongs to everyone and cleverly breaking the rules for profit, not just strengthening punishment regulations and establishing enforcement measures."

It added, "We hope the legislation will proceed swiftly. As promised to the public, Gyeonggi Province will do its best to complete the valley and river maintenance project within this summer and continue efforts to completely eradicate illegal river occupation."

Governor Lee Jae-myung of Gyeonggi Province has been promoting measures to eradicate illegal acts in rivers and valleys since last summer for the 'restoration of clean valleys,' continuously proposing legal amendments and system improvements to the central government and political circles.

The province has argued that illegal businesses demanding seat fees by installing tents and platforms in rivers and valleys every year are rampant, but fines are minimal and enforcement is ineffective, so penalties should be strengthened and special provisions for administrative execution should be introduced.

A provincial official emphasized, "Although penalties have been strengthened in the amendment, the province has previously proposed imprisonment of up to five years or fines of up to 50 million won to eradicate illegal acts. We plan to submit additional opinions during the consultation period to have stronger penalties accepted."

Meanwhile, as of the 20th, out of 1,436 illegal facilities detected in 187 rivers across 25 cities and counties in the province, 1,361 sites, accounting for 94.8%, have been removed. The province plans to take strong measures such as criminal punishment and administrative execution by the end of this month for the remaining illegal facilities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.