Late illegal private financial measures... "We need to strengthen qualifications and punishment."

[Anchor]
Twenty years have passed since the loan business system was established, but the evils of illegal bonds and vicious collection have continued.

Poor loan business registration system and soft punishment are blamed for this:
Critics point out that the government and the National Assembly need to discuss additional supplementary measures as the
government and the National Assembly are belatedly speeding up their preparation for countermeasures.

I'm a reporter for the department head.

[Reporter]
The Korean private loan market was incorporated into the system after the loan business law was enacted in 2002.The purpose was to cultivate the private loan business in the dark through the

'registration system', but 20 years later, the harmful effects of murderous loan sharking and collection still remain.

First of all, the problem is that the barriers to entry are poor.

You have more than 10 million won in your bank account, and anyone can register for a loan business with 18 hours of training.

You don't even need to have a resident employee.

As a result, as of this year, there are 8,597 registered lenders nationwide, so small companies are scattered.

It is estimated that not a few of them secretly borrow their registration certificates to operate.

[Former loan shark: It's easy to get (loan registration). There is no certain amount and crime history, and it comes out if you complete a certain training session. [How much money do you pay a month to borrow it?]Another problem is that the punishment is insignificant even if the

law is not followed.

If you operate without registration or receive high interest rates without complying with the legal maximum interest rate, the statutory sentence has remained the same for 22 years since the enactment of the Loan Business Act
The reality is that even if they are punished for violating the
Act, most of them are only suspended sentences or fines.

The government and the National Assembly have been aware of these problems for decades.

As a result of the YTN's full investigation of amendments to the loan business law proposed from the 17th to the 22nd National Assembly, more than half of them were abandoned at the end of their terms.

Many included strengthening the requirements and punishments for registering loan businesses, but there was no proper discussion, and similar bills are being proposed again and again in the 22nd National Assembly.

The government announced measures to eradicate illegal private finance in September, but it is also pointed out that this is insufficient.

The main goal is to strengthen the capital requirements of lenders to 100 million won for individuals and 300 million won for corporations, and experts point out that there is a limit to simply increasing capital.

Only companies with a certain "net asset" size should be allowed to register as a loan business, reducing the possibility of attracting other people's money and receiving high interest rates or illegally collecting them.

[Song Tae-kyung / Secretary-General of the People's Solidarity for Economic Democratization] If you go to the capital system, you can get a bank loan and use that money to do a loan business. I'm still going to leave the institutional environment that promotes this illegal bond.]

The ruling and opposition parties agreed to deal with bills such as raising standards for equity capital for loan businesses within the regular session of the National Assembly, and there are many voices calling for attention to discussing additional supplementary measures such as strengthening punishment.

I'm the manager of YTN.

a photographer for

Design;Jeon Wheein