"You'll Be Detained in Prison If You Don't Pay the Fine" Warning Resolves 3.7 Billion Won in Overdue Payments

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] #1. Transportation company A, operating approximately 100 buses and receiving around 2 billion won in government subsidies annually, has not paid hundreds of fines over the past three years for violations such as improper stops and refusal to board passengers.

The relevant city and county government served notice of a detention warning on the company's representative director, threatening jail or prison detention. Company A has committed to paying the full 78 million won in fines by September this year.

#2. Logistics company B, owning cargo trucks and other vehicles, has defaulted on over 130 fines related to uninsured vehicles and delayed inspections since 2009 to the present.
The relevant city and county government served detention notices. Company B immediately paid 15 million won of the 39 million won in overdue payments, with the remainder to be settled through installment payments.

As a result of Gyeonggi Province's enforcement of "detention" measures—which allow authorities to jail habitual and high-amount fine delinquents—176 people (3.7 billion won, approximately 11,000 cases) have resolved their overdue payments, the province announced on the 21st.

Previously, the province and its cities and counties selected 1,106 high-amount and habitual fine delinquents (in arrears for more than one year and with outstanding amounts exceeding 10 million won) from November of last year through January of this year. They then issued detention warning notices and classified potential detention targets.

Subsequently, the province identified delinquent payers subject to detention under the Regulations on Controlling Violations of Order, which included those with ▲three or more instances of fine delinquency ▲outstanding amounts of 10 million won or more ▲arrears exceeding one year. Among these, 181 were identified as payment defaulters (individuals with the capacity to pay but who refused to pay the fines).

As a result, overdue payments were settled as follows: 16 people made full payment (410 million won, 599 cases), and 160 people either made installment payments or committed to installment plans (3.3 billion won, 11,036 cases).

The remaining 5 individuals had detention applications filed with the relevant prosecution office.

After the prosecution office decides whether to indict them, a judge's ruling will determine whether they are detained in a detention facility or prison for up to 30 days.

Beyond collection efforts, the investigation into payment defaulters also identified evidence documents for financial hardship cases, allowing for write-off procedures.

Thirty-four cases (630 million won) are scheduled to be written off by the relevant cities and counties.

Kim Min-kyung, Director of Tax Justice at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "The subjects of this detention application, unlike ordinary lifestyle-related fine delinquents, are chronic habitual defaulters. After encouraging payment over an extended period without success, we made this decision after careful consideration. Some delinquents with the means to pay exploit the fact that non-tax revenues have weaker collection enforcement than taxes and evade payment. We will continue to collect all overdue amounts through various methods to establish a fair tax-paying culture."