"LH Land Speculation Unjust Gains National Treasury Recovery" Rep. Yang Kyung-sook Proposes Bill

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[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] A bill to recover (forfeit) unjust gains obtained by public officials through criminal acts to the national treasury is being promoted. This is a follow-up bill related to the land speculation allegations involving employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), which has caused public outrage.

According to the National Assembly on the 13th, Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea submitted the "Act on the Recovery of Proceeds from Specific Property Crimes and Relief for Victims" to the National Assembly. This bill is based on a bill originally proposed by Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party candidate for Seoul mayor, when she was a member of the National Assembly in 2017.

The bill proposed by Rep. Yang stipulates that in addition to crimes involving embezzlement or breach of trust in the course of duty where the value of property or property benefits acquired or obtained through a third party is 5 billion KRW or more, recovery is required when a public official violates the "Act on Prevention of Conflict of Interest of Public Officials," the "Act on the Prohibition of Improper Solicitation and Graft," or the "Public Officials Ethics Act" and obtains property or property benefits worth 100 million KRW or more.

Furthermore, under the bill, anyone who has reasonable grounds to believe that certain property crime proceeds are involved can request recovery from the Minister of Justice. The Minister of Justice must, ex officio or upon application, petition the court for the forfeiture of specific property crime proceeds to the national treasury. When a recovery request is made, the court must notify interested parties, and if no objection is raised within 30 days, the specific property crime proceeds will be forfeited to the national treasury. Additionally, the bill provides for the establishment of a fund within the Ministry of Justice to protect victims of specific property crimes.

Rep. Yang Kyung-sook stated, "Acts by public officials prioritizing private interests and undermining fairness and justice can never be tolerated," and added, "Unjust gains from criminal acts must be thoroughly recovered."

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