Gamblers exempted from repaying borrowed money

The Seoul Central District Court rejected a private moneylender’s demand to order repayments of 11 million won lent to a gambler at Kangwon Land Casino.

Presiding Judge Shim Chang-seop said in his ruling that moneylenders’ loans requiring “abnormally high” interest rates have a negative effect of promoting gambling and causing various social problems, and therefore don’t have to be protected by law.

Kangwon Land runs the country’s only casino open to Korean nationals.

The act of lending gambling money runs counter to moral standards and social ethics, the judge said.

The private moneylender, identified as Hwang, 59, filed a suit against the defendant Shin, 56, as the latter did not pay an 11-million-won loan extended in 2012 for 10 days for gambling at Kangwon Land, located in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, at an interest rate of 10 percent.

“The plaintiff lent money knowing that the defendant would use it for gambling. The money purposely given for gambling need not be repaid,” Lee Jung-won, the court spokesman, said.

“Although it is lawful to gamble in Kangwon Land, the judge decided that moneylenders’ loaning for gambling was illegal,” he added.

It is not clear whether the plaintiff will appeal the decision. By Kim Se-jeong, The Korea Times