It appears that the budget for the "minimum support fund for victims of jeonse fraud" has been omitted from next year's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport budget plan. Despite bipartisan agreement, the Ministry of Economy and Finance opposed it over concerns about fiscal burdens. Although President Lee Jae-myung personally ordered a review of providing relief first and recovery later for victims, the plan is unlikely to move forward unless the disputes over funding and fairness are resolved.
According to the National Assembly and others on the 29th, the budget for the minimum support fund for victims of jeonse fraud was excluded during the final review of the 2026 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) budget plan and was not allocated. The item was not included in the budget plan MOLIT submitted to the National Assembly, but 100 billion won was added during the preliminary review by the standing committee through bipartisan agreement. However, it was not reflected in the plenary session, and the budget allocation ultimately fell through. An official with the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee said, "The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) expressed opposition due to fiscal burden concerns, so it was dropped from the final budget plan."
The minimum support fund for victims of jeonse fraud is a system in which the state helps victims recover a portion of their deposits. Public institutions such as the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) first pay tenants the deposits they were unable to recover, then purchase the rights to the deposits and recoup funds through subrogation claims and debt collection such as auctions and public auctions of dwellings. The Democratic Party of Korea, anticipating the possibility of budget allocation, introduced an amendment to the Special Act on Support for Victims of Jeonse Fraud and Residential Stability to allow victims to recover at least one-third of their deposits, but with the plan stalled, the legislation has also become uncertain.
This is why the president singled out support for victims of jeonse fraud during the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's work briefing. The president said, "We made an official promise, so we must keep it," and added, "It will require a budget and there will be many considerations, so please prepare separately and report back." Later, Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) appeared before the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee at the National Assembly and, regarding the minimum support fund project for jeonse fraud, said, "We will actively discuss it again with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF)," adding, "We will work to make the minimum guarantee ratio 50%."
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) opposed budgeting because it judged that massive fiscal input would be unavoidable. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) estimated last year that nearly 5 trillion won would be needed to implement the minimum support fund for victims of jeonse fraud. It is a simple multiplication of 36,000 victims by an average deposit of 140 million won. The amount varies depending on the scope and ratio of support, but even conservatively it is expected to cost hundreds of billions of won. The National Countermeasures Committee for Victims of Jeonse Fraud and Hollow Jeonse estimated that if there are up to 30,000 victims and the average damaged deposit is set at 130 million won, 585 billion won in budget would be needed. It assumed that 50% of victims are not priority repayment recipients and thus face difficulty recovering their deposits.
A political source said, "Unless a supplementary budget is drawn up, it will be difficult to allocate hundreds of billions of won right away," adding, "There are many contentious issues that require social consensus, so it will not be easy to push through."