Hankyoreh

☞Subscribe to the Hankyoreh newsletter H:730. Type ‘Hankyoreh h730’ in the search bar. As a result of a thorough survey of victims in the Gangseo area of ​​Seoul, where large-scale lease fraud occurred, more than half of them had to cry and buy the damaged houses, and in the process, they suffered double and triple financial difficulties due to difficult loan support, auction delays, and excessive litigation expenses. It was found that Although it has been five months since the Jeonse Fraud Victims Act came into effect, there are many people who are being forced into high-interest loans due to blind spots. According to the Gangseo-gu Office’s ‘Results of a Survey on Victims of Jeonse Fraud’ obtained by the Hankyoreh on the 3rd, more than half of the victims who did not receive their deposit back were choosing to ‘purchase the damaged house’ to minimize damage. This is more than half of the respondents (320 people), or 64.1% (205 people). This is because the Jeonse Fraud Victims Act ‘recommends’ this method by providing preferential purchase rights or providing purchase loan support. However, even in the process of purchasing damaged houses through auction, many difficulties had to be encountered due to institutional loopholes. Auction participants must pay 10% of the minimum selling price as a bidding deposit. Most of the victims had already exceeded their total Debt Service Ratio (DSR) due to the lease loan, so many of them had secured the bid deposit through high-interest credit loans. The problem is that due to the lease fraud, there are a lot of auction items in the court, so it takes more than a year from bidding to winning the bid. During this period, the interest burden falls entirely on the victim. Mr. Baek (41) said, “It has been almost two years since the auction took place. He has been living in pain for a long time. “Please handle it quickly.” Even if the auction was held, there were many cases where low-interest loan support was not available due to income conditions. Mr. Kim (35) won the bid for the damaged house, but was unable to receive loan support, so the interest burden was greater than when borrowing money for a lease. He said, “All victims of lease fraud are the same, so why do you consider income standards?” He added, “(The houses that were purchased as victims) are not sold, so they are unable to repay the (high-interest) loans. “I wanted to die because of the hellish officetel, but I feel like I’m still in hell,” he said. Even if the bid is successful, problems remain. In the case of officetel victims, the acquisition tax amounts to 4.6%. It is more than 4 times the rate of general housing, which is 1.1%. All costs must be borne by the victim. Some of the damaged houses have been illegally converted into houses from neighborhood living facilities or have illegal structures such as balcony extensions, which may make it difficult to resell them later. It is difficult to find a tenant, so you could be stuck in this house forever. Ms. Jeong, 32, tried to move her child to another home as she grew up, but she was unable to do so. He, who bought the damaged house, said, “I was deceived by a broker and entered into a lease in an illegal building. “I bought it, but since it is an illegal building, I cannot get a lease loan, so it is difficult to find a tenant,” he said. “I am permanently stranded in this house.” “It’s so hard because everything has come to nothing,” he said. Victims of Yu House are another blind spot. Since they cannot get a low-interest loan, they cannot buy the damaged house, and since they cannot get the rental deposit back, they cannot return the deposit to the existing tenant of their house, so they cannot live in their own house. Various litigation costs were also a burden. The government announced that it was supporting one-stop services such as legal consultation and auction agency, but voices on the ground differed. One victim responded, “Because I have no expertise in the field, such as auction procedures, they did not provide specific procedures, and they provided information commonly found on the Internet, which was not of much help. I also did not know the details of the Jeonse Fraud Victims Act.” . As a result of the survey, victims were found to be spending an average of 1,612,000 won on litigation costs, including stamp and delivery fees, and an average of 3,793,000 won on attorney hiring fees. Gangseo-gu Office said, “Because they are victims with preferential purchase rights, there is a need to simplify the auction process,” and added, “The report also included a recommendation that income or property standards be excluded from the loan support requirements.” This survey was conducted over a two-week period from the 16th to the 30th of last month targeting 550 people who had applied for review to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Jeonse Fraud Victim Support Committee among the victims of lease fraud in Gangseo-gu, and 355 people responded. Among the respondents, 320 were recognized as victims. 71.9% of the victims were in their 20s and 30s, and 80.9% of the respondents had a deposit between 100 million and 300 million won. The average legal cost due to lease fraud was 5.4 million won. It was found that 80% of respondents were experiencing physical and psychological pain, including sleep disorders, and 20.9% of victims were experiencing suicidal thoughts. Reporter Kim Ga-yoon gayoon@hani.co.kr

The Korean government has decided to participate in international resolutions (initiatives) such as tripling renewable energy being discussed at the 28th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (COP28). At the summit of the Conference of the Parties being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the 1st (local time), the government agreed to five international resolutions, including △renewable energy and energy efficiency, △mutual recognition of hydrogen certification systems, △agriculture and food, △health, and △multilevel cooperation. He announced that he had decided to participate. Among these, the ‘Resolution to 3-fold Renewable Energy Expansion’ calls for increasing global renewable energy facility capacity to 11 billion watts (W) by 2030, three times the current level, and improving energy efficiency by 4% each year, said Ahmad Zabi, chairman of the Conference of the Parties. Le has been leading the discussion, including sending a urging letter to participating countries in March. Previously, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on November 15, the United States and China attracted attention by announcing that they would participate, and it is known that more than 100 countries, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan, have participated so far. On the other hand, the Korean government plans to expand the ‘carbon-free (CF) coalition’ including nuclear power generation, and did not announce until the opening of the general meeting whether it would join the resolution to triple renewable energy. In a press release jointly issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Environment, and Trade, Industry and Energy, the government said, “The above initiative is a voluntary and non-binding plan and declaration led by the COP28 chair country,” and “It gathers the will of the parties and stakeholders to take climate action, resulting in Paris.” “It will greatly contribute to achieving the goals of the agreement,” he said. In Korea, the proportion of solar and wind power generation is 4.7% (2021), which is far lower than the world average of 28.1%. Among the 20 major countries (G20), it is the second lowest after Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, the Yoon Seok-yeol government lowered the 2030 renewable energy target from 30.2% to 21.6% in the 10th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand confirmed in January this year, and pressure to expand is expected to increase with participation in the resolution at this general meeting. Jin-seon Lee, head of the electricity market system team at Climate Solutions, a climate and environmental group, said, “This declaration to triple global renewable energy by 2030 is a symbolic event that shows the direction of global energy policy, and advanced countries such as Korea are committed to reducing greenhouse gases. “As it is a big responsibility, we need to increase the proportion of renewable energy much more quickly,” he said. “This should be reflected in the 11th basic plan for electricity supply and demand that will be created soon.” Meanwhile, the Korean government also announced that it would participate in the ‘Climate Club’, which announced its official launch today with the participation of 36 countries, including the G7 and developing countries. The Climate Club is a collaboration between developed and developing countries to decarbonize the industrial sector, which accounts for a quarter of total carbon emissions. Seven major countries, including the European Union, Korea, Chile, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, and Morocco, participated. It was first proposed by Germany at the summit of seven major countries in January last year with the intention of strengthening cooperation in areas such as promoting related technology development, mutual recognition, and forming international standards between developed and developing countries. Korea announced its intention to participate at the summit of seven major countries in May this year. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attended the launch ceremony. Reporter Park Ki-yong xeno@hani.co.kr

A firefighter in his 20s who was putting out the fire after rescuing an elderly couple in their 80s at the scene of a warehouse fire in Jeju died. According to the explanation of the Jeju Island Fire and Safety Headquarters on the 1st, firefighters who responded to a report of a fire in a warehouse next to a house in Pyoseon-myeon, Seogwipo-si at 1:09 am on this day, evacuated an elderly couple in their 80s from the house and extinguished the fire. However, as the fire intensified due to strong winds, the concrete eaves of the outer wall of the warehouse building collapsed. Lim Seong-cheol (29), a firefighter who was putting out the fire at the time, suffered serious head injuries and was taken to the hospital, but died. Firefighter Lim said he went out to extinguish the fire wearing a hard hat, but was unable to avoid the pile of concrete that suddenly collapsed. Firefighter Lim is a 5-year firefighter at the Pyoseon 119 Center of the Jeju Eastern Fire Department. He was a firefighter who traveled to various accident scenes with a strong sense of duty and responsibility, and on this day, he was the first to arrive at the fire scene and suffered an accident while putting out the fire, the fire department said. The Jeju Island Fire and Safety Headquarters plans to proceed with compensation and courtesy procedures for firefighters who died in the line of duty in accordance with the Civil Servant Accident Compensation Act. Condolences for Lim Fire Bridge continue to pour in. On this day, Jeju Governor Oh Young-hoon posted on his social network service (SNS), “Unfortunately, the late Lim Seong-cheol, a firefighter from the Dongbu Fire Department, passed away at the fire site in Sehwa-ri, Pyoseon-myeon early this morning. “I am heartbroken to hear the news of the deceased, who tried to carry out his duties without fear even in the face of a huge fire for the safety of the people of the province,” he said. “I pray for the soul of the deceased and offer my deepest condolences to the bereaved family.” “I will not forget the courage, dedication, and noble sacrifice shown by Im Fire Brigade,” he wrote in a condolence note. People Power Party representative Kim Ki-hyeon also said through his social networking service, “I pray for the soul of the deceased who sacrificed his life to save the lives of the people, and I also offer my sincere condolences to the bereaved family.” He added, “A flowery age. We cannot help but be devastated by the news of the deceased’s death in the line of duty, as he sacrificed and devoted himself only to the safety of the people even in the midst of a huge fire. “We ask the relevant authorities to ensure that nothing is neglected in the final moments of the deceased’s life,” he said. Reporter Heo Ho-jun hojoon@hani.co.kr