Era of 7 Million Lawsuits: Civil and Criminal Cases Rise, Divorce Trials Decline

A Total of 6.92 Million Cases Filed, Up 4% from the Previous Year
Improved Trial Conditions... 370 More Judges to Be Added Over Five Years

Last year, the number of lawsuits filed with courts nationwide approached 7 million. While both civil and criminal cases increased, the number of divorce trials showed a downward trend.

According to the Judicial Yearbook published by the Court Administration Office under the Supreme Court on September 24, 2024, the total number of lawsuits filed with the courts in 2024 reached 6,915,400 cases. This represents an increase of approximately 3.7% compared to the previous year (6,667,442 cases).

Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Asia Economy Database

Civil cases accounted for the majority with 4,709,506 cases (68.1%), followed by criminal cases at 1,819,492 cases (26.3%), and family cases at 192,530 cases (2.8%).

The number of substantive civil cases was 879,799, up 3.4% from the previous year (850,926 cases), while substantive criminal cases totaled 347,292, an increase of 2.8% from the previous year (337,818 cases).

By instance, both civil and criminal cases saw a significant rise in the number of appeals to the Supreme Court. For substantive civil cases, 805,366 cases were filed at the first instance, a 3.2% increase, while the second instance received 59,475 cases, up 1.3%. The number of cases filed at the third instance was 14,958, but excluding excessive lawsuits filed by the same individuals, the actual number was 13,026, marking a 7.2% increase.

For criminal trial cases, the first instance saw a 1.3% increase to 239,981 cases, the second instance rose by 3.4% to 82,162 cases, and the third instance surged by 18% to 24,889 cases.

On the other hand, the number of divorce cases adjudicated by the courts decreased by 2.4% to 26,849 last year, compared to 27,501 in the previous year. In the case of juvenile protection cases reviewed by family and district courts, there were 50,848 cases last year, a 1.5% increase from 50,094 in the previous year, but the growth rate sharply declined from 16.4% to 1.5%.

The Court Administration Office was reported to have focused on creating conditions for expedited trials last year. It actively promoted the increase of judges and judicial researchers, and in December last year, the Act on the Quota of Judges, which increases the number of judges by 370 from 3,214 to 3,584 over the next five years, was passed and has been in effect since January this year.