CHUN DOO-HWAN’S UNPAID FINES

[Anchor Lead]

With the death of Chun Doo hwan, it remains unclear how the state is going to collect his unpaid fine. The portion of the fine he managed to avoid paying over the past 25 years amounts to 95.6 billion won. In addition to the money he was ordered to return to the state, he has nearly one billion won in delinquent local tax.

[Pkg]

Chun Doo-hwan was ordered to return 220.5 billion won that he had accumulated illegally to the state when he was sentenced to life in prison for treason and bribery in 1997. But for the six years after the ruling, he only paid 31.4 billion won. When he was again tried in court in 2003 for not paying the remaining amount, Chun presented a list of his assets which claimed that he only had 290,000 won in his bank account.

[Soundbite] Lee Soon-ja(Chun’s Wife, 2012) : "The political fund he had used during his term was considered a bribe so we can’t pay that money."

In 2013 the prosecution formed a task force solely for the purpose of collecting the unpaid fine. This seemed at the time to force Chun into paying his dues.

[Soundbite] Chun Jae-kook(Chun’s Eldest Son, 2013) : "All family members will cooperate so that the authorities’ retrieval process can proceed smoothly until the fine is paid in full."

But the vilified ex-president kept resisting and even filed a lawsuit to stop an annex building to his Seoul residence from being disposed by public sale.

[Soundbite] Chun Doo-hwan(2019) : "(You still haven’t paid the fine to the prosecution.) Why don’t you pay it for me."

The prosecution managed to collect 1.4 billion won this year. This included 350 million won from Sigongsa, a media company owned by one of his sons, and one billion won from selling his forest land. But 95.6 billion won -- 40% of the total fine -- remains uncollected. The current law dictates that when a person obliged to pay a fine dies, the fine is processed as impossible to enforce. But, prosecutors are trying to find legal grounds to collect Chun's remaining fine.

[Soundbite] Lee Yun-wu(Senior Spokesperson, Korean Bar Association) : "In principle, it’s hard to enforce a fine once the person obligated to pay dies. But it appears prosecutors will look into assets currently being collected or hidden assets."

Chun is also on the list of Seoul’s top delinquent taxpayers. He hasn't paid some 980 million won in local tax.