Supreme Court: "Unjust to impose compensation fine for 'unauthorized use' on Samcheok Hyanggyo management foundation"

1st and 2nd Trials: "No Foundation Occupancy Rights on Hyanggyo Site"
Supreme Court: "Must Consider That the Hyanggyo Management Entity Allowed Site Occupancy"

The Supreme Court has ruled that imposing compensation fees on a foundation that has managed a Hyanggyo (Confucian school) site for nearly 100 years due to unauthorized occupation and use of the land is unjust.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Cheon Dae-yeop) announced on the 10th that it overturned the lower court's ruling, which had dismissed the appeal by the Gangwon-do Hyanggyo Maintenance Foundation against the Korea Asset Management Corporation, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

Samcheok Hyanggyo has been located in its current site in Samcheok City, Gangwon Province since 1468, early in the Joseon Dynasty. The government completed ownership preservation registration for the land where the Hyanggyo is situated in 1979 and 1986, respectively.

However, in 2020 and 2021, the Corporation suddenly imposed compensation fees totaling approximately 60 million KRW in two installments, claiming that the foundation occupied and used the Samcheok Hyanggyo site without a national land lease contract.

The foundation filed a lawsuit, arguing that "allowing free use of the land for management and operation for nearly 100 years and then imposing compensation fees constitutes an abuse of rights and a violation of the principle of good faith."

The first and second trials ruled that "the foundation does not have possession rights over the Samcheok Hyanggyo site, and the Corporation's imposition of compensation fees does not violate the principle of good faith or constitute an abuse of rights," thus deeming the compensation fees legitimate.

However, the Supreme Court's judgment differed. Since Samcheok Hyanggyo has been at its current location for hundreds of years before the founding of the Republic of Korea, the state should be considered to have tolerated the occupation and use of the site by the managing and operating entity of Samcheok Hyanggyo from the time it acquired ownership of the land.

The court stated, "The foundation's occupation and use of the Samcheok Hyanggyo site falls under the exception for compensation fee imposition stipulated in the State Property Act, which applies when the state or local governments allow occupation or use of state property due to unavoidable reasons," and added, "The state bears the obligation to allow the plaintiff to occupy and use the Samcheok Hyanggyo site in order to fulfill its duties of preservation, management, and utilization of cultural assets under the Constitution and the Cultural Heritage Protection Act."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.