Architectural Dispute Mediation Committee’s Settlement Rate Only 25% Over Five Years... "Improvements Needed"

Last Year’s Architectural Dispute Mediation Dismissal Rate Reached 64%
Eightfold Increase Over Four Years
94% of Dismissals Due to “Respondent’s Refusal to Participate in Mediation”

The settlement rate of the Architectural Dispute Mediation Committee has been only 25% over the past five years. Criticism has arisen that the committee has not been fulfilling its intended function.

Kim Jongyang, member of the People Power Party. Courtesy of the office of Kim Jongyang

According to data submitted by Assemblyman Kim Jongyang of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, on October 5, the settlement rate of the Architectural Dispute Mediation Committee was only 25% (532 cases) out of 2,075 cases received between January 2020 and August this year. Only when the committee's mediation is settled does it carry the same effect as a court settlement.

Established under the Building Act in 2015, the committee is operated by the Korea Infrastructure Safety and Technology Corporation’s secretariat on a consignment basis. It receives an annual budget of approximately 360 million won and is staffed by 15 committee members and 7 to 9 secretariat personnel.

The cases completed by the committee are classified into five categories: settlement, non-settlement, withdrawal, dismissal, and rejection. Of the 2,006 cases completed by the committee from 2020 to August this year, 1,278 cases, or 63.7%, ended without even proceeding to substantive review, such as withdrawal, dismissal, or rejection.

In particular, the dismissal rate surged eightfold from 8% in 2020 to 63.7% last year. Among the 705 dismissals from 2022 to August this year, 64.9% were due to "refusal to participate by the respondent." Of the 249 dismissals last year, 93.9% were concluded because the respondent explicitly stated no intention to participate.

Assemblyman Kim stressed, "Since the Architectural Dispute Mediation Committee is a voluntary system without binding force, a case is effectively halted if the respondent simply expresses a refusal to participate. Improvements are needed to ensure that architectural dispute mediation can fulfill its intended role."