Gwangju Rehabilitation Court to Open in March... Dedicated to Insolvency Cases in Honam Region

Jurisdiction Covers Gwangju, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and Jeju
Preparation Team in Full Operation

The Gwangju Rehabilitation Court Opening Preparation Team and court officials, officially launched, are posing for a commemorative photo while pledging meticulous work handling. Photo by Gwangju High Court

The Gwangju Rehabilitation Court, which will be responsible for insolvency cases in the Gwangju, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and Jeju regions, has begun full-scale preparations ahead of its scheduled opening on March 1.

According to the Gwangju High Court on January 15, the Gwangju Rehabilitation Court Opening Preparation Team was appointed earlier this month and is currently carrying out administrative procedures and organizational restructuring to establish the new court. The establishment of this specialized court was finalized after the relevant legislation passed the National Assembly in November 2024.

The newly established Gwangju Rehabilitation Court will nearly double the number of judges compared to the existing Gwangju District Court Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Division. The number of professional rehabilitation and bankruptcy commissioners will also be increased, which is expected to accelerate the handling of insolvency cases that had been delayed due to manpower shortages.

Until now, the Gwangju region did not have a dedicated court, resulting in serious work overload as five judges had to handle both insolvency cases and their regular caseloads. In particular, as individual rehabilitation cases at the Gwangju District Court increased by 26.2% in just one year and demand for insolvency proceedings surged, some petitioners seeking swift processing even traveled to the Seoul Rehabilitation Court, a phenomenon referred to as "rehabilitation tourism."

With the opening of the new court, practical guidelines will also be reorganized to match the standards of the Seoul Rehabilitation Court. More debtor-friendly and expedited rehabilitation procedures are expected to be implemented, which is anticipated to strengthen support for the recovery of local economic actors.

Meanwhile, the appointment of the first Gwangju Rehabilitation Court Chief Judge and the scale of judicial personnel assignments will be finalized during the regular judicial personnel appointments next month.