Debt Dodger Immigrates Abroad Without Repayment: 450.2 Billion KRW Owed, Recovery Rate Only 1%

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] It has been revealed that the debt amount of people who emigrated overseas without repaying their debts to domestic financial institutions amounts to 450.2 billion KRW.

According to data from the Korea Asset Management Corporation disclosed by Kang Byung-won, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, a total of 3,561 people emigrated overseas without repaying debts to domestic financial institutions over the past 10 years from 2012 to last year.

Their total debt amount is approximately 450.2 billion KRW, but the amount recovered was only about 1.1% of the total debt, around 5.1 billion KRW. 445.1 billion KRW was not recovered.

By age group, those in their 60s accounted for 214.1 billion KRW, representing 47% of the total debt amount. This was followed by those in their 50s (97.4 billion KRW) and 70s (92.9 billion KRW).

Generally, it is difficult to collect overdue debts from emigrants overseas because South Korea's collection rights do not extend to overseas assets or income of delinquent overseas emigrants. If delinquency occurs after emigration, recovery is difficult unless they enter the country.

Representative Kang pointed out, "There are frequent malicious cases of debt evasion where emigrants receive loans or cash services from financial institutions around the time of emigration reporting and leave the country without repayment," adding, "Since this is a problem that increases losses of government funds and non-performing loans of financial institutions, the government must have the will to resolve it."

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