Complainant Rights in Korea From October 2026: The New Three-Month Deadline

Since 2 October 2026 a person who files a criminal complaint in Korea has a set of procedural rights with real deadlines, and the most important one is short: an objection to a decision not to refer the case must be filed within three months of receiving notice.

The difficulty is that the rights do not all start at the same time. Some apply to complaints accepted before the reform, some only to complaints accepted afterwards. The table below sets out each right, its legal basis, and the point from which it applies.

The rights and when each one applies

The objection deadline is new

Before the amendment there was no time limit at all on objecting to a decision not to refer a case. There is now. The objection must be filed within three months of the date the notice was received, and where there is a proper reason the period can be extended by the police up to six months from the date the file was sent (art. 245-7(3)).

The notice itself must include the decision document together with guidance on objecting and the prescribed form (art. 245-6). If a notice arrived without those, that is worth recording immediately, because it affects what can be argued later. If the notice reached you before 2 October 2026, the new three-month period does not govern your case.

Reading the file is permitted, but only for the objection

A complainant may apply to the police or the prosecutor to inspect or copy the investigation record in order to pursue an objection (art. 245-12(1)). The permission is limited to what is assessed as necessary for the objection, can be refused on the grounds set out in the Act or on the state of the investigation, and can carry conditions on use (art. 245-12(2), (3)).

One consequence is criminal. A person who breaches those conditions or restrictions by passing the record to someone else, or showing it to them, faces up to one year's imprisonment or a fine up to 5 million won (art. 245-12(6)). Using the material in a dispute with the other party, or publishing it online, is the clearest way to turn a procedural advantage into a separate charge.

If the investigation simply stops

Where no substantive investigation has been carried out for six months or more without proper reason, or the complainant's rights have been infringed, an objection may be made to the head of the investigating agency. That head must respond within 14 days, indicating whether the officer has been replaced and setting out the progress and plan of the investigation. If nothing is done, or the response is unsatisfactory, a request for review may be filed with the superior agency within a further 14 days (art. 245-11).

The six months, the 14 days and the further 14 days are all short. A file that sat idle for years before the reform is not automatically caught by this provision: it applies to investigations commenced after 2 October 2026.

Asking to see the prosecutor

A complainant may request an interview with the prosecutor in order to state a view (art. 245-13(2)). Whether the interview happens is for the prosecutor, who assesses whether it is needed to check the facts. Statements and materials from the interview cannot be used as evidence at trial (art. 245-13(3)), so the interview is an opportunity to influence a charging decision, not to create testimony.

Rights do not decide outcomes

Every one of these rights has a short window, a defined scope, and a cost if used carelessly. The practical question is always which rule attaches to your file, and that depends on when the complaint was accepted, when the investigation began and when notice was given.

If you have received a non-referral notice, or an investigation has stalled, the dates on the documents should be reviewed before anything is filed. For the structure of the new system as a whole, see Korea's 2026 prosecution reform, and for the parallel position of a suspect, what a suspect now faces.

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