Assemblyman Heo Young: "KDIC Fails to Recover More Than Half of Overseas Hidden Assets"

Of the $44.1 million discovered,
$19.9 million recovered
Assets concentrated in North America

Assemblyman Heo Young of the Democratic Party of Korea stated on the 18th, "The Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation has failed to recover even half of the overseas hidden assets of those responsible for financial insolvency over the past 10 years."

According to data submitted to Assemblyman Heo by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), from 2015 to the end of July this year, the KDIC discovered a total of $44,147,000 (approximately 61.1 billion won) in hidden assets overseas. However, the actual amount recovered was only $19,893,000, which is about 45% of the assets discovered.

By country, the largest amount was found in the United States with $10.96 million, followed by Canada ($2.61 million) and New Zealand ($1 million), showing a concentration in North America. In Asia, $940,000 was discovered in countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, China, and the Philippines.

Large-scale cases involving more than 1 billion won have seen prolonged delays in asset recovery. For example, assets worth 4.4 billion won discovered in the United States in 2011 have not been executed for 12 years, despite a favorable local court ruling in 2013. In the British Virgin Islands, assets worth 61 billion won were identified in 2015, and although bankruptcy proceedings have been underway since 2022, the prospects for recovery remain uncertain. There was also a case in the United States where a house worth 2.6 billion won, jointly owned by the person responsible for insolvency and their spouse, was excluded from compulsory execution and thus deemed unrecoverable.

Yonhap News Agency

Collection costs have continued to be incurred. Over the past 10 years, $5.49 million has been spent on overseas litigation and attorney fees, amounting to 27.6% of the total recovered amount. After deducting these costs, the net amount recovered was only $14,404,000, raising concerns about the lack of an effective collection strategy.

The KDIC explained, "Differences in laws and systems between countries make it difficult to secure local enforcement orders and carry out compulsory execution," citing restrictions on compulsory execution of jointly owned marital property in the United States and difficulties in recognizing Korean court rulings in Southeast Asian countries as reasons.

Assemblyman Heo pointed out, "It is inevitable that recovery performance declines as time passes after insolvency occurs. Nevertheless, from the perspective of economic justice, we must pursue recovery to the end and hold those responsible accountable."

He further emphasized, "We need to move beyond a litigation-focused approach and establish specialized strategies tailored to the legal environment of each country. A thorough analysis of cost-effectiveness is necessary so that the budget is not wasted, and the system must be reorganized accordingly."