Lee proposes bill to collect Chun's unpaid fines

SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Yonhap) -- Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party on Monday proposed a bill that would force the family of late former President Chun Doo-hwan to pay 95.6 billion won (US$80 million) in his unpaid fines.

Chun, who was widely criticized for brutally suppressing a democratic uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 1980, died last week, leaving behind the unpaid portion of more than 220 billion won in forfeitures for his 1997 conviction for treason and bribe-taking.

Under current law, the penalty cannot be executed after the person's death.

"The forfeiture should be viewed as a public debt, and if Chun's wealth inheritance is found, it should be executed to the state," Lee said during a discussion with students at Chosun University in Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul.

"Let's make a law under which forfeitures are inherited," he said. "There should be no problem with retroactive legislation if it stipulates that the responsibility associated with wealth is inherited."

Chun is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter.

hague@yna.co.kr
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