The Financial Supervisory Service announced that, together with the Korea Insurance Development Institute and non-life insurers, refunded KRW1.36bn ($1.0m) in improperly inflated motor insurance premiums to 2,289 victims of auto insurance fraud last year, reported Yonhap news.
The average refund amounted to around KRW600,000 per person, reflecting efforts to correct unfair overcharging and compensate affected policyholders.
Over the past five years, an average of 2,540 people per year received refunds, with total annual repayments averaging about KRW1.21bn.
Since June 2009, the FSS, in cooperation with the Korea Insurance Development Institute and non-life insurers, has been operating a victim relief scheme to return unfairly levied automobile insurance premium surcharges to fraud victims.
Under this system, a cumulative total of KRW11.24bn has been refunded to around 24,000 victims of auto insurance fraud since its launch through to last year.
The FSS also announced plans to transfer unclaimed refunds that remain uncollected for more than 10 years to the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, with the aim of ensuring more systematic management of long-term unclaimed premium repayments.