5 Million Won Fine If the Witness Does Not Attend Civil Trial

A witness of a civil trial, if he or she does not appear in court for testimony without a good reason, will be fined up to 5 million won from July. And he or she will be arrested and put on custody up to 7 days, if she or she does not appear even after the imposition of the fine.

A debtor` responsibility to clarify the property will be enforced, and the property inquiry system will be introduced. Auction formalities will be changed to protect the rights of a successful bidder.

The Supreme Court announced on 10th that, after the announcement by the President, the new Civil Execution Act would be enforced from July 1st. The Civil Execution Act consists of 312 provisions that are separated from the revised Civil Proceedings Act and the Forcible Execution part in the current Civil Execution Act, which passed in the national plenary session on 6th. It would be the first total amendment of the Civil Execution Act since it enacted in 1960.

According to the revised Civil Execution Act, if a witness does not appear in court for testimony on the stated day without any substantial reason, he or she will be fined, which will increase 10 times from the current `up to 500,000 won` to `up to 5 million won`. And if the witness still does not appear in spite of the fine, the court may arrest him or her, and put him or her in custody up to 7 days.

No Plead Judgment System will be introduced, which make possible to judge in favor of the accuser if a plaintiff does not hand in the plea within a given period.

In the Civil Execution Act, the property clarification duty was strengthened. If a debtor does not appear in court on the property statement day without reason or reject to hand in the property list and a judicial oath, the debtor shall be imprisoned for up to 20 days.

In the auction formalities, after a real estate is sold, deposit of 10 percent is required to prevent the owners or leaseholders of real estates from making excessive complaints, which delays the trials.

And the mediation process, which obligates the payment of money or securities without a legal procedure, is also significantly improved by increasing the number of local courts that can issue the order for payment.

In addition, difficult Chinese legal terms will be changed to Korean words such as haja (瑕疵) to `heum` (흠).

Lee Soo-Hyung sooh@donga.com