"Only 6% Repaid After Emigrating with Debt... Unrecovered Claims Reach 600 Billion Won"

High-Value Debtors Account for 88% of Total Overseas Emigrant Claims

It has been revealed that the recovery rate for claims held by Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) against debtors who have emigrated overseas remains at only 6%. The outstanding balance of unrecovered claims due to debtor emigration overseas stood at approximately 580 billion won as of the article's publication date.

According to audit materials submitted by KAMCO to the office of Assemblyman Park Mingyu of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, as of the end of July, there were 4,127 overseas emigrant debtors among the 616,445 claim obligors whose claims had been acquired by KAMCO. Among these, 891 individuals—21.6%—were high-value debtors with debts exceeding 100 million won. The claims held against these high-value debtors totaled 513.379 billion won, which accounted for 88.1% of the total claims amount (582.46 billion won) against all overseas emigrant debtors.

The collection performance from overseas emigrant debtors was also poor. As of the end of July, the amount recovered was 37.44 billion won, just 6.0% of the claim amount (619.9 billion won) at the time of acquisition. The unrecovered amount was 582.46 billion won. Among the top 10 overseas emigrant debtors in terms of claim amount, total claims reached 121.392 billion won, but the amount recovered was only 12.004 billion won, which accounted for just 18.8% of the total unrecovered amount (109.388 billion won) for these debtors.

KAMCO replied to the Assemblyman's office that it is difficult to determine the whereabouts and departure dates of these 10 individuals. KAMCO further explained, "We have requested information on overseas migration from relevant administrative agencies, but due to limitations imposed by personal information protection laws and other regulations, there have been significant constraints in collecting public information." KAMCO added that it is “currently proceeding with discussions to collect information on the overseas residences of emigrants.”

According to KAMCO, in the past 10 years, there were 123 high-value debtors (with claims exceeding 100 million won and with secured executive authorities) among the acquired claims. Of these, the overseas residence country could be confirmed for 61 debtors (49.6%). Among them, the largest number, 36, resided in the United States, followed by 13 in Canada, 6 in New Zealand, 3 in Australia, 2 in Japan, and 1 in Colombia.

Assemblyman Park stated, "Despite the amount of unrecovered claims against overseas emigrant debtors exceeding 580 billion won, there are clear blind spots in debt management, as even the countries of residence of high-value debtors are unknown," adding, "It is necessary to establish the legal grounds for collecting information on overseas residences and to formulate supplementary measures for the recovery of claims held against emigrants."

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