JongBo Kim, Housing Reconstruction and Redevelopment Projects and Criminal Penalty: As part of the anti-corruption system in the construction sector, Seoul Law Journal(2019), Vol. 60, No. 2 (2019), pp. 93-120.
<Abstract>
Korean society has been developing for nearly 60 years through a highly compressed growth and urbanization process. As a result, the urbanization rate in Korea has already exceeded 90%, and construction of housing, road and rail infrastructure has been a background for forming a rich construction market. The construction market, which has grown together in the process of successful urbanization and industrialization in Korea, was a source of enormous economic wealth and development benefits. The overheated housing reconstruction projects, which began in the early 2000s, and the subsequent rise in the prices of the reconstructed apartments have become an object of great attention in the society. To ensure that housing reconstruction projects are not overheated and follow fair procedures, and that the development interests resulting from reconstruction projects are not unfairly privatized can be achieved by the rational operation of criminal penalties. As for housing reconstruction and redevelopment projects, various criminal penalties were set up before and after 2010, when rearrangement projects were actively underway. However, it is difficult to threaten illegal actors in the construction market simply by legislating criminal penalties under the circumstances that the power of the state is not fully equipped with expertise in reconstruction and redevelopment. In order to prevent manipulations of the law by penal provisions, firstly, clear elements of a crime must be established on the premise of systematic understanding of each illegal act in the legislative process. In addition, professional prosecutors and courts in overall reconstruction and redevelopment system are needed. Understanding that construction companies play a key role in the reconstruction and redevelopment project, it is easy to accept that comprehending the role of the construction company and weighing the severity of the crime in criminal punishment are important. Furthermore, the legislation should distinguish between crimes based on construction companies and crimes that simply distort the intention of the association, and endeavor to complete criminal penalties for each illegal act. The law enforcement in accordance with the perception of systematic criminal penalties, and the accurate understanding of the system in which the criminal penalties are operated, are indispensable elements of a fair rearrangement project. The Institution related to reconstruction and redevelopment was originally introduced to rearrange dilapidated and low-quality residential areas or to demolish and rebuild old apartments, but it was not conscious of substantive and litigation issues when designing each provision. For this reason, even if the complaints in the process of the housing reconstruction and redevelopment project were raised in the early stage, it was not easy to set up legal relations and to bring a lawsuit through it. Although the lawsuits were filed with difficulty, it was hardly expected for the court, unfamiliar with the system itself, to resolve the dispute reasonably by interpreting the one or two articles. Even though the litigations were terminated by a court through such a difficult process, the judgment did not immediately lead to the improvement of the system. After about thirty years of difficult early stage, now the administration of the local governments familiar with the practice, the judiciary of courts trained by numerous lawsuits, and the legislative function of the National Assembly and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reacting sensitively to disputes in market, have reached a significant level. Preventing corruption on the basis of delicate provisions on criminal penalties for housing reconstruction and redevelopment projects is becoming a reality.
<Keywords>
Act on the Improvement of Urban Areas and Residential Environments, rearrangement project, housing reconstruction project, housing redevelopment project, criminal offense, criminal penalty
JongBo Kim, Housing Reconstruction and Redevelopment Projects and Criminal Penalty: As part of the anti-corruption system in the construction sector, Seoul Law Journal(2019), Vol. 60, No. 2 (2019), pp. 93-120.
<Abstract>
Korean society has been developing for nearly 60 years through a highly compressed growth and urbanization process. As a result, the urbanization rate in Korea has already exceeded 90%, and construction of housing, road and rail infrastructure has been a background for forming a rich construction market. The construction market, which has grown together in the process of successful urbanization and industrialization in Korea, was a source of enormous economic wealth and development benefits. The overheated housing reconstruction projects, which began in the early 2000s, and the subsequent rise in the prices of the reconstructed apartments have become an object of great attention in the society. To ensure that housing reconstruction projects are not overheated and follow fair procedures, and that the development interests resulting from reconstruction projects are not unfairly privatized can be achieved by the rational operation of criminal penalties. As for housing reconstruction and redevelopment projects, various criminal penalties were set up before and after 2010, when rearrangement projects were actively underway. However, it is difficult to threaten illegal actors in the construction market simply by legislating criminal penalties under the circumstances that the power of the state is not fully equipped with expertise in reconstruction and redevelopment. In order to prevent manipulations of the law by penal provisions, firstly, clear elements of a crime must be established on the premise of systematic understanding of each illegal act in the legislative process. In addition, professional prosecutors and courts in overall reconstruction and redevelopment system are needed. Understanding that construction companies play a key role in the reconstruction and redevelopment project, it is easy to accept that comprehending the role of the construction company and weighing the severity of the crime in criminal punishment are important. Furthermore, the legislation should distinguish between crimes based on construction companies and crimes that simply distort the intention of the association, and endeavor to complete criminal penalties for each illegal act. The law enforcement in accordance with the perception of systematic criminal penalties, and the accurate understanding of the system in which the criminal penalties are operated, are indispensable elements of a fair rearrangement project. The Institution related to reconstruction and redevelopment was originally introduced to rearrange dilapidated and low-quality residential areas or to demolish and rebuild old apartments, but it was not conscious of substantive and litigation issues when designing each provision. For this reason, even if the complaints in the process of the housing reconstruction and redevelopment project were raised in the early stage, it was not easy to set up legal relations and to bring a lawsuit through it. Although the lawsuits were filed with difficulty, it was hardly expected for the court, unfamiliar with the system itself, to resolve the dispute reasonably by interpreting the one or two articles. Even though the litigations were terminated by a court through such a difficult process, the judgment did not immediately lead to the improvement of the system. After about thirty years of difficult early stage, now the administration of the local governments familiar with the practice, the judiciary of courts trained by numerous lawsuits, and the legislative function of the National Assembly and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reacting sensitively to disputes in market, have reached a significant level. Preventing corruption on the basis of delicate provisions on criminal penalties for housing reconstruction and redevelopment projects is becoming a reality.
<Keywords>
Act on the Improvement of Urban Areas and Residential Environments, rearrangement project, housing reconstruction project, housing redevelopment project, criminal offense, criminal penalty