Lee Jae-myung Criticizes Banks for "Reaping Profits from Excessive Interest Rate Spreads"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks at a meeting with representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises, calling for the introduction of the unit price adjustment system--in which the fluctuating price of raw materials can be reflected in the unit price. Bak Min-gyu, Senior Reporter

On October 19, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, asked, “Is it right for banks, which should be tending to public interests, to reap excessive profits from the interest rate spread, while putting a heavy burden on households and companies?”

Lee asked the question in a meeting of the party’s Supreme Council at the National Assembly on Wednesday, and said, “Bank profits from the interest rate spread exceeded 40 trillion won in the second quarter, and they are expected to earn more than 80 trillion won from interest by the end of the year.” He criticized the banks and said, “People with household loans and companies are suffering severely due to the high interest rate, and it doesn’t make sense that they (banks) are accumulating excessive profits amid this suffering.”

Lee continued and said, “When people can’t pay off their loans due to the high interest, they wander around non-banking financial firms and private lenders, eventually borrowing money from the private money market. Then, unable to pay the interest, which could run from tens to hundreds of percent, they can be forced to make a fatal decision.” He argued, “Of course, we will have to enact legislation to nullify illegal private loans, but we also need a bill that can help people pay off their loans by having them switch to a low-interest loan or by strengthening financial support.” At the same time, he asked the government to pay particular attention to small personal loans and argued, “The problem won’t be solved by just leaving it up to the market.”

According to Lee, banks could be seen as a social power when the people’s economic activities face a crisis, and they should never be allowed to challenge the survival of citizens and powerless companies by reaping excessive profits from the interest rate spread. Lee asked banks to fulfill their social responsibility and responsibility for public interest as a financial institution.

On the 74th anniversary of the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident, Lee also announced plans to propose a bill that would remove the statute of limitations and the extinctive prescription in civil cases on human rights violations by state violence. He said, “To this day, no one is taking responsibility for crimes by state violence. Everyone was released from their responsibility to identify the truth, enforce criminal punishment, and bear civil liabilities just because time passed.” “We will enact a bill that will remove the statute of limitations and extinctive prescription from crimes involving human rights violations by state violence so that the perpetrators will be held responsible for their crimes and the statute of limitations for civil servants involved in the investigation and prosecution of such cases be suspended during his service as a government employee to prevent any manipulation of cases,” Lee said.

Lee also spoke on the latest arrest of Kim Geun-sik, a child predator, and said, “We need preventive measures to stop more people from falling victim to sexual offenders,” and added, “The Democratic Party will lead efforts to promote a supplementary legislation.”