[Editor's note] There are people who wipe away a neighbor's wet eyes rather than cling to the cold letters of the law. They are village lawyers who forgo the bright lights to visit island villages and remote areas without a single attorney—"no-lawyer villages"—to provide free legal counseling. It has been 13 years now, and 1,228 lawyers have become a steady pillar in 1,414 towns, townships, and neighborhoods nationwide. We captured the warm voices of those who have quietly walked toward the most overlooked places.
"Around 2021 in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, the problem of jeonse fraud in newly built low-rise apartments flared up. Victims came to me, and I explained what needed to be organized legally and the procedures for filing complaints. Thinking back on it still makes me very sad. If they had hired a lawyer individually, the expense would likely have been hard to bear. Now that low-rise apartment fraud has grown into a bigger issue, there is a response system at the national level, but it was not like that then."
At the time in Gwangju, there was a jeonse fraud involving low-rise apartments in which the perpetrators hid the fact of double contracts or deceived tenants by saying they would cancel a collateral trust registration set on newly built low-rise apartments, then embezzled 12.3 billion won in jeonse deposits. There were 126 victims of the fraud.
On the 23rd of last month at his office in Garak-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, managing partner attorney Lee Jun-cheol (2nd bar exam) of Law Firm Suryun Asia said it was "a case that showed why village lawyers with attachment to the community are needed." He said he chose the path of a lawyer because he "wanted to lower the threshold of the law," and that village lawyer work became a channel to put that conviction into practice.
Lee has been serving as a village lawyer in Namjong-myeon, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province since 2017. This is his ninth year. Gwangju is cited as a local government that operates the village lawyer system in an organized way. Lee was selected by the Ministry of Justice in 2016 as an "exemplary village lawyer," and Gwangju at the time was also evaluated as an "exemplary local government."
─What led you to become a village lawyer.
"I decided to become a lawyer because I wanted to lower the threshold of the law for people. When I worked at the Korea Legal Aid Corporation as a public interest judicial officer, I sought out the busy Seongnam and Chungju branches. I handled about 2,000 legal consultations over three years. I felt I wanted to keep communicating with people in difficult circumstances who needed help. I felt that a village lawyer could play that role."
─Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, is close to Seoul. Why work there.
"I was born in Seoul and grew up in Bundang, and after getting married in 2013, I set up my newlywed home in Gwangju and have lived there since. Thinking about how I could serve in the area led me to village lawyer work. It is a place where urban and rural characteristics are mixed, and because it is not a planned city, there were many legal conflicts in daily life. I thought someone needed to help with those problems."
─What issues do residents mostly consult about.
"The most representative case was 'jeonse fraud.' In Gwangju, related problems flared up around 2021. A representative of residents in a low-rise apartment came to see me, and I explained what needed to be organized legally and the procedures for filing complaints. Hiring a lawyer individually would have been a heavy expense. Now, as the seriousness of the issue has grown, there is a response system at the national level, but it was not like that then."
─Were there cases of resolving conflicts caused by reckless development.
"There was a dispute over a flower bed between two identical four-story low-rise apartment buildings. Residents in the front building claimed it was their land because it was attached to the parking lot, while residents in the rear building protested, saying it was a space for growing plants. The problem started when residents in the front parked and threw away cigarette butts or trash.
After checking the building register and the land register, the flower bed turned out to belong to the rear building. After explaining the legal judgment, I recommended mutual concessions and establishing rules. It was a problem arising from a structure where the low-rise apartment complex had been split and developed by building."
─How does Gwangju operate the system.
"Namjong-myeon in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, has a small population of 1,372. So Gwangju operates village lawyers not by individual township units but grouped at the citywide level. Along with another lawyer, I am in charge of Gwangju, and once the monthly consultation venues are set, we take consultations in turn.
─Why was it selected as an exemplary local government.
"The official in charge takes applications in advance and organizes the purpose of the consultation and materials. For example, if it is an inheritance consultation, they prepare and send a family tree in advance. Usually consultations last 20 to 30 minutes, but the time can be spent just hearing the background. Because the city sufficiently researches materials in advance, in-depth consultations with progress are possible during the session, making it efficient."
─Has the village lawyer experience helped you.
"It helps me maintain my original intention. Market merchants work with their days and nights flipped. Legal consultations or lawsuits have to be done during the day, and the opposing party in a dispute also works during the day. So I do night consultations and even go into the market to consult. Meeting residents as a village lawyer and meeting merchants at Garak Market share similar aspects."
Suryun Asia used to focus on trade and commerce, but after moving its office to Garak Market in Songpa-gu, it has been participating in resolving disputes that arise in the market.