Prosecutors, Police, and Ministry of Land Launch 'Jeonse Fraud Response Council'... Rooting Out Villa King

Strict Response to Organized Jeonse Fraud by 'Villa King' and 'Construction King'
Establishment of 7 Regional Hotlines... Designation of Dedicated Prosecutors for Jeonse Fraud Cases

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The prosecution, police, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have formed a ‘Jeonse Fraud Response Council’ to mount an all-out response. They plan to establish a cooperative investigation system to actively respond throughout all stages of the criminal procedure.

On the 18th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, National Police Agency, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport met at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to review the current status of each agency’s response to Jeonse fraud crimes and discuss coordinated measures for strict punishment of Jeonse fraud.

During the ongoing investigations and trials of major Jeonse fraud cases such as the so-called ‘Three Mothers Jeonse Fraud,’ ‘Villa King,’ and ‘Construction King,’ large-scale organized crimes have been revealed, raising public concern over additional damages. This has led to calls for the establishment of a council to strictly respond to Jeonse fraud.

Hwang Byung-ju, Head of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, is delivering opening remarks at the 'Jeonse Fraud Response Council' held at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 18th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Attending the meeting were Hwang Byung-joo, Chief of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (Prosecutor General), Yoon Seung-young, Director of the Investigation Bureau at the National Police Agency, and Nam Young-woo, Director of Land Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Prior to the council meeting, Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok met with the attendees and urged, "Jeonse fraud is a crime targeting the entire life savings painstakingly gathered by youth and ordinary citizens, completely destroying their foundation of life. Please respond strictly with extraordinary resolve."

The three agencies agreed to hold the council to share information from the early stages of investigations and establish prosecution-police hotlines in seven major regions (Seoul, Incheon, Suwon, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan, Gwangju). They will pool the capabilities of related ministries to swiftly investigate large-scale organized Jeonse fraud cases such as the ‘Villa King.’ Additionally, they plan to continuously implement the ‘Government-wide Jeonse Fraud Nationwide Special Crackdown’ to eradicate the root causes of the crime.

The prosecution will designate dedicated prosecutors for Jeonse fraud cases, pre-review police detention requests, and actively participate in court warrant hearings for major police cases to strongly present their opinions.

During trials, the actual scale of damages, recovery status, and current housing situation will be reflected as sentencing factors. In cases involving multiple victims, they will seek the maximum statutory penalty under the ‘concurrent offense aggravation’ principle and actively appeal if sentences fall short of the prosecution’s requests.

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