THE KUKMIN DAILY

* In the photo, Seongnam City Mayor Lee Jae-myeong and other participants at the inaugural ceremony of the “Debt Remission Project,” held in early September last year. (Photo: Seongnam City)


Churches around Seongnam City, Gyeonggi-do, have joined with the city in a “Debt Remission Movement.” It is the first time that local government and churches are collaborating in the movement, which started in Korea about a year ago to offer relief to low-income persons with bad credit ratings.

Rev. Lee Jeong-won (Seongnam Jeil Methodist Church), moderator of the Seongnam City Christian Council (SCC), said on the 24th, “We plan to gather the offerings that are collected by our member churches on two occasions - Easter Sunday (April 5) and Seongnam City Christians Day (mid-October) - and together with Seongnam City, contribute them to the debt remission organization Saving Hope…I think we can give the hope of the Jubilee Year, the sabbatical year that is commanded in the Bible, to our indebted, low-income neighbors including those with poor credit ratings.

Also called “Rolling Jubilee,” the debt remission movement began in 2012, when the U.S. was in financial crisis and the “Occupy Wall Street” movement was spreading. At that time, citizens contributed money to buy up nonperforming loans worth a total 15.5 billion won, and burned the loan documents in a debt abolition movement.

The project was introduced in Korea at the beginning of April last year. The citizens’ movement Saving Hope and others bought up and incinerated 164 long-term nonperforming loans, and this marked the start of a full-scale Korean “Rolling Jubilee.” In July, the Christian citizens’ movement “Jubilee Together” and other organizations joined in, drawing the attention of church circles as well as of the general public.

The participation of the Seongnam area churches was sparked by Seongnam City Mayor Lee Jae-myeong, who proposed it at a meeting with pastors at the end of last year. Since September, the city has been advancing the “Debt Remission Project,” together with businesses and others, to alleviate the suffering of ordinary people caused by bad debts.

Rev. Park Eun-jo (Eunhye Saemmul Church), who chairs SCC’s social welfare subcommittee, said, “As the church pastors in our area have positively accepted the aim of this project, there is a consensus that we should get all the churches to participate.” He explained, “In time, we will distribute a handbook to all our member churches, introducing the movement and encouraging their participation.”

Taking into consideration key Seongnam-area churches such as Jiguchon Church, Bundang Uri Church, Seonhan Mokja Church, Manna Church, Urideul Church and Halleluia Church, as well as the 1,300 member churches of SCC, the churches’ large-scale participation will give the debt remission movement its greatest boost so far.

The debt remission movement follows a simple process. With the money donated by churches and believers, the long-term delinquent debtor’s bad loan is purchased from the credit information agency or collection agency and the debt certificate is destroyed. Then a notice is sent informing the long-term debtor that the loan has been abolished.

The cost of the loan purchase is not burdensome. According to business circles, the transaction price of a long-term, delinquent bad loan falls to just 1~3% of the original amount. For example, a loan of 1 million won falls to 10,000~30,000 won at a collection agency, and it is these bad loans that are bought.

According to experts’ evaluation, “The debt remission movement is a highly effective way of bringing relief to debtors in urgent circumstances in the civilian sector.” Korean financial researchers say that as of the end of 2013, the number of financial loan defaulters who are unable to repay their debts reaches 1,140,000. Among these, about 310,000 are long-term defaulters, and more than 670,000 are advanced in age (men 60 or older, women 50 or older).

From next month, Jubilee Together plans to set in action a “youth debt remission project” to abolish long-term delinquent loans taken out to pay school expenses, and through this the Korean church expects to further activate its “made-to-order helping ministry.”

Reporter Jaechan Park (jeep@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)


Click here for the original article in Korean

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