Korean Prosecution Studying Introduction of Plea-Bargaining System

by Brendon Carr

Because criminal law has so much greater reach in Korea, touching on a wide variety of business conduct (such as wrongful termination, non-payment of wages, default on payment obligations, or not having the proper markings on your website, or using improperly-sized tires on the car) which might more readily be addressed by civil process in common-law countries such as the United States, we end up doing a fair bit of criminal-law counselling of business clients.

Most of them are shocked by the absence of two concepts they take for granted in the United States: The plea bargain, and offers of immunity from prosecution in exchange for testimony. Well, over the weekend I stumbled across this summary of a speech by Prosecutor-General Lim Chae-jin, promising to introduce a plea-bargain system to Korea:

[H]is agency will study all plea-bargaining systems adopted in advanced countries to introduce one that respects human rights before making a final decision.

A future planning taskforce at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has reviewed a draft measure on a limited plea-bargaining system that reduces punishment when the defendant pleads guilty to charges with court approval.

What’s interesting to me is that there is already plenty of incentive in the Korean system for an accused to confess and plead guilty, notably an end to interrogation without charge or counsel which can last up to 21 days, but also including leniency in sentencing upon the inevitable conviction (criminal accused in Korea face a conviction rate greater than 99%, which means once charged, odds are overwhelming that the accused will be convicted and punished).

Case loads at the court are high, however. A few years ago, I read that Korea’s harried judges handle something like 40-50 active cases at a time. Plea bargains will move cases through the court system a lot faster, because they will resolve many cases in one 10-minute hearing instead of several, which will free up judicial resources for more complex cases.

Comments Policy: Comments to Korea Law Blog are moderated. This means abusive, or just plain stupid comments will be deleted. So don't be a jerk. It also means there may be some delay from the time you post a comment to the time it shows up here. If your comment wasn't against the policy, it will show up in a little bit.