Last Year, 6.67 Million Lawsuits Filed... Increase in 'Civil and Family' Cases, Decrease in Criminal Cases

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The number of lawsuits filed in courts nationwide last year showed a slight increase compared to the previous year. Despite the spread of COVID-19, civil and family cases increased, while criminal cases slightly decreased.

According to the Supreme Court's "2021 Judicial Yearbook" released on the 26th, the number of lawsuits filed in courts last year was 6,679,233 cases, an increase of about 0.68% (44,889 cases) compared to the previous year.

Among these, civil cases numbered 4,829,616, an increase of 70,965 cases (1.49%), and family cases (171,671 cases) increased by 98 cases (0.06%). On the other hand, criminal cases were 4,829,616, a decrease of 70,965 cases (1.49%) compared to the previous year.

Per capita case numbers showed that in 2020, civil main cases were recorded at 18 cases per 1,000 people. Criminal main cases were 5 cases per 1,000 people, and family main cases were 1 case per 1,000 people, maintaining the same level as the previous year. Specifically, last year, 1,012,837 civil main cases were filed, a 1.98% decrease compared to 1,033,288 cases in 2019. Conversely, criminal main cases increased by 2.82% to 352,843 cases compared to the previous year. The number of criminal main cases filed in 2019 was 343,150.

First-instance divorce cases were 33,277, a 5.54% decrease compared to the previous year. However, juvenile protection cases increased by 5.51% to 38,590 cases. Among the processed cases, 66.8% (25,579 individuals) received protective measures, and among them, juveniles aged 16 to under 18 accounted for 38.5% (9,852 individuals).

Electronic litigation was also actively conducted. All 674 first-instance patent lawsuits and 22,508 administrative lawsuits were filed electronically. In civil cases, 91.2% of first-instance cases were filed electronically, and family lawsuits showed an 84.4% rate.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Yearbook summarizes the human and material organizational status of the judiciary, judicial administration operations, and major case statistics, and will be available on the Republic of Korea Courts website starting from the 27th.