Even When Unjustly Detained, State Compensation Takes Ages

Criminal Compensation Decisions Ignoring 'Six-Month Deadline'
Park Kyuntaek: "Courts Must Comply with Statutory Deadlines"

Gyuntaek Park, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

There is growing criticism as the number of cases in which criminal compensation decisions-a right guaranteed by the Constitution-are not made within the legally mandated period continues to increase each year.

According to data submitted by Kyun-Taek Park, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gwangju Gwangsan-gap), from the Supreme Court on October 26, out of 11,827 criminal compensation decisions handled by district courts nationwide over the past five years (from 2021 to June 2025), 2,903 cases (24.5%) were decided after exceeding the statutory deadline of six months.

The criminal compensation system allows individuals who were detained as criminal suspects or defendants to claim compensation from the state if they are not indicted or are acquitted. Article 14, Paragraph 3 of the Act on Criminal Compensation stipulates, "The court that receives a claim for compensation must make a decision within six months." This legislative measure was established to ensure that citizens who were unjustly detained can promptly restore their rights without delay.

The problem is that the statutory deadline is not being properly observed. Last year, the Seoul High Court dismissed a claim for damages filed by a victim due to a delay in the criminal compensation decision, stating that the relevant provision was merely "advisory." This demonstrates that the courts themselves regard compliance with the statutory deadline as a recommendation rather than an obligation, and that there are virtually no effective sanctions or remedies even if decisions are delayed.

This situation is clearly reflected in the statistics. In just the first half of this year, 379 out of 1,350 criminal compensation cases (28.1%) handled by district courts were decided after the statutory deadline. More specifically, 239 cases took between six months and one year, 119 cases took between one and two years, and 21 cases took more than two years to process. This means that one out of every four cases exceeded the deadline.

The average processing period has also been steadily increasing. The average processing time was 3.4 months in 2021, 3.7 months in 2022, 4.4 months in 2023, and 5.2 months in 2024. In the first half of this year, it reached 5.3 months, approaching the statutory maximum of six months.

Park stated, "Criminal compensation is the minimum procedure by which the state acknowledges its responsibility and helps restore the dignity of citizens who have been unjustly detained and deprived of their freedom and honor by public authority." He pointed out, "The longer the decision is delayed, the more the significance of the system is diminished, and it can also lead to further human rights violations." He emphasized, "It is urgent to establish practical measures to ensure the promptness of criminal compensation decisions so that innocent citizens are not made to suffer twice."

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