President Yoon Suk Yeol called Thursday for imposing tough punishments on illegal private lenders who charge interest rates of thousands of percent, saying it is the state's duty to protect ordinary and vulnerable citizens from such "vicious criminals that suck the blood of the weak."

Yoon made the remarks during a meeting on illegal private financing, which was attended by some 30 people, including victims of the practice, workers at a victims' call center, and government and law enforcement officials.

He said his "heart ached" when he heard the story of a mother and her two daughters who committed suicide after being hounded by loan sharks. He also recalled the case of a woman in her 30s who borrowed 1 million won ($762), only to be charged 5,200 percent annual interest and be sexually exploited.

"It is the state's basic duty to protect ordinary citizens and vulnerable groups from crimes that plunder people's livelihoods," Yoon said during the meeting held at the headquarters of the Financial Supervisory Service, the country's financial regulator. "It must be rooted out at all costs and damage relief must take place effectively."

Addressing the justice minister, police chief and other officials in attendance, he called for tough measures against illegal private loans, saying such crimes are a "wicked cancerous existence" that "crushes" people's lives, "erases" their human rights and destroys families and society.

"We must punish illegal private financing until the end and forfeit their illicit profits without exception," he said. "Vicious criminals that suck the blood of the weak must be strongly punished so they regret their crimes for the rest of their lives, and if necessary, I ask you to push for legal revisions and stronger sentencing guidelines."

Yoon also said the damage that people suffer after using private lending services has become so severe that "fundamental constitutional values, such as liberty and human rights, have been harmed."

"We've reached a point where the president himself has to be directly involved," he added.

Yoon noted loan agreements that include debt collecting procedures outside of legal boundaries are invalid.

Yoon also called for coming up with various ways to help victims using the confiscated money and compensate them for their psychological and physical suffering.

"If we leave such things alone and are unable to completely weed them out, it would be difficult to call our society a liberal democratic society," he said. (Yonhap)