Co-organized with Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice

FSC Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young calls for legislation to enable inter-agency information sharing

From left: Kim Hyun-su, head of the Korean National Police Agency's economic crimes investigation division; Oh Jeong-geun, head of the Financial Supervisory Service's insurance fraud response unit; Lee Byeong-rae, chairman of the General Insurance Association of Korea; People Power Party lawmakers Kim Wi-sang, Jeong Jeom-sik and Song Seok-jun; Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Son Myeong-su; Jeong Ung-seok, president of the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice; and Kwon Dae-young, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission. [General Insurance Association of Korea]
From left: Kim Hyun-su, head of the Korean National Police Agency's economic crimes investigation division; Oh Jeong-geun, head of the Financial Supervisory Service's insurance fraud response unit; Lee Byeong-rae, chairman of the General Insurance Association of Korea; People Power Party lawmakers Kim Wi-sang, Jeong Jeom-sik and Song Seok-jun; Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Son Myeong-su; Jeong Ung-seok, president of the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice; and Kwon Dae-young, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission. [General Insurance Association of Korea]

A research forum bringing together the National Assembly, government agencies, investigative authorities, research institutions and the insurance industry has been launched to combat increasingly sophisticated and organized insurance fraud. The forum plans to identify improvements to laws and systems through expert seminars and academic research, and to translate its findings into legislation.

The General Insurance Association of Korea said Thursday it held the inaugural ceremony and a seminar for the "National Assembly Insurance Crime Prevention Research Forum" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on Wednesday. Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker So Byeong-hun and People Power Party lawmaker Jeong Jeom-sik serve as co-chairs, with the General Insurance Association of Korea and the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice as co-organizers.

The event was attended by both co-chairs, lawmakers from several standing committees, General Insurance Association of Korea Chairman Lee Byeong-rae, Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice President Jeong Ung-seok, Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young, and officials from the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korean National Police Agency and the insurance industry.

The forum aims to develop policy, improve laws and systems, and build a cooperative framework among relevant agencies in the area of insurance fraud. It plans to identify measures to strengthen prevention policies and detection and investigation systems through expert seminars and academic research, and to link those findings to National Assembly legislation.

The seminar featured two research presentations on the theme of "Innovations in the Insurance Fraud Response System." Jeong Yeong-jin, a professor at Inha University, examined the need for information linkage between public and private insurance systems and proposed ways to build an effective information-sharing framework. Lee Bo-mi, a former researcher at the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice, outlined the need for cooperation among relevant agencies in combating insurance fraud and presented proposals for dividing roles and establishing a joint response system.

"Eradicating insurance fraud means easing the financial burden on law-abiding citizens and protecting public trust in the insurance system and our society's safety net," So said. "I will ensure the National Assembly plays an active role so that the diverse opinions and research findings presented at this forum do not remain mere discussion but lead to actual legislation and policy."

Jeong said insurance fraud is "a serious financial crime against people's livelihoods that undermines the foundations of the insurance system and erodes trust in our society." He added that the forum would continuously study the state of insurance crime and emerging criminal patterns, identify systemic limitations raised in the field, and translate them into necessary legislative amendments and policy improvements.

FSC Vice Chairman Kwon said insurance fraud "has evolved beyond individual misconduct into organized crime involving colluding medical institutions, repair shops, brokers and solicitors, and is now being exploited through generative AI and deepfakes." He said sharing information on suspected cases among relevant agencies is critical to responding swiftly to AI-enabled insurance fraud, and that legislative measures — including amendments to relevant laws — must accompany those efforts. The FSC launched a task force in June to build an AI-based insurance fraud prevention platform and has been discussing the initiative with relevant agencies to counter crimes exploiting generative AI.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the total amount of insurance fraud detected last year reached 1.16 trillion won ($855 million), up 6.9 billion won, or 0.6 percent, from the previous year. The number of people caught, however, fell by 3,245, or 3 percent, to 105,743, pointing to a trend toward larger amounts per case.

General Insurance Association of Korea Chairman Lee said that because individual institutions face inherent limits in tackling insurance crime on their own, the National Assembly, government, investigative authorities, research institutions and the insurance industry must work closely together to build a systematic, cross-ministry response framework. He added that the association, as the forum's secretariat, would actively contribute to establishing an insurance crime response system.

Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice President Jeong said that as insurance fraud grows more sophisticated and organized, it is undermining the foundations of the insurance system and shifting the damage onto the majority of honest policyholders. He said the two institutions had built on an MOU signed in January to carry out joint research and other collaborative work, and pledged to continue drawing on the institute's expertise in criminal justice and legal policy to propose effective policy alternatives for reforming the insurance fraud response system and improving relevant laws and regulations.


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