Land Committee Clash Over 'Jeonse Fraud Special Act'... Won Hee-ryong Asks, "Should the State Also Cover Stock Price Manipulation?"

Opposition's Demand for 'Bond Purchases' Met with Government Resistance
"Category Expansion Needed" Despite Disagreements

As a special law to prevent jeonse fraud victims was submitted to the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the government and ruling party clashed with the opposition over the scope of the target and bond purchase.

On the afternoon of the 28th, the Land Committee held a plenary meeting and submitted three bills for enactment, including the "Special Act on Support for Jeonse Fraud Victims and Housing Stability," prepared by the government and ruling party and jointly proposed by Kim Jeong-jae of the People Power Party, the "Special Act on Recovery of Deposit and Support for Housing Stability of Housing Tenants," proposed by Jo Oh-seop of the Democratic Party, and the "Special Act on Protection of Tenants of Rental Deposit Non-Return Housing," proposed by Shim Sang-jung of the Justice Party.

The government and ruling party and the opposition held a free discussion and discussed the details of the special law. The Democratic Party and the Justice Party especially argued that the scope of application stipulated in the government proposal should be expanded. Democratic Party lawmaker Maeng Seong-gyu said, "The damage situation has not been accurately identified," adding, "Therefore, the government proposal is too narrow and strict in terms of the victims covered."

Justice Party lawmaker Shim Sang-jung also pointed out, "If you want to argue that six criteria are absolutely necessary, you need to present statistics on how many victims meet these conditions," adding, "Without that, unilateral claims could result in ignoring victims rather than supporting them."

In response, Land Minister Won Hee-ryong explained, "By distinguishing clear cases, we aim to prevent genuine victims from not receiving adequate support," adding, "We established flexible and comprehensive requirements to cover not only simple violations but also cases with fraudulent intent as much as possible."

The Democratic Party and the Justice Party also pointed out that a bond purchase method for returning deposits should be introduced. Lawmaker Maeng said, "There is no method to return deposits to victims when the damaged deposit is their entire property or mostly debt."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Minister Won responded, "In the current rights and obligations surrounding various bonds and debts in our country, there is no system where the state first reimburses and pays on behalf of victims who were deceived and defrauded, and then recovers the costs elsewhere, nor should such a precedent be set," adding, "All fraud victims are equal." When opposition lawmakers raised further criticisms, Minister Won retorted, "Then should the state also pay for stock manipulation damages?"

During the discussion, both sides showed differing views on whether jeonse fraud should be defined as a 'social disaster.' Democratic Party lawmaker Heo Young said, "I think (jeonse fraud) is a problem caused by this government's policy," adding, "If this is treated only as a private rights issue, it will inevitably be minimized. Are you willing to accept this?"

Minister Won replied, "In this case, the appraised value was inflated, and newly built villas without market prices were used to deceive people who had no social experience or information, with the involvement of licensed real estate agents, so our state is exceptionally intervening in this problem," adding, "But should all frauds caused by social factors in the future be regarded as social disasters?"

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