More than 18.4 trillion won ($13.3 billion) in criminal fines has been wiped out over the past five years through labor served in detention, prompting calls to overhaul a system that lets high-value defaulters erase hundreds of millions of won a day — a practice critics call "emperor labor."
According to data submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Rep. Kim Yong-min of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, a total of 183,864 cases of fines being served through labor instead of payment were recorded from 2022 through August of this year, the lawmaker said on the 19th.
Fines erased through labor during that period reached 18.43228 trillion won, or an average of about 100.22 million won per case.
By year, the amount written off stood at about 3.8558 trillion won in 2022, about 3.766 trillion won in 2023, about 3.7243 trillion won in 2024 and about 3.2659 trillion won in 2025, declining each year. From January through August this year, however, it rose again to about 3.821 trillion won.
Under the current criminal code, a person given a fine must pay it within 30 days of the verdict becoming final. Those unable to pay may instead be held in a labor facility for a set period in lieu of payment.
The problem is that detention for labor is capped at three years. Because the detention period has an upper limit no matter how large the fine, high-value defaulters can end up erasing hundreds of millions of won in fines for a single day of labor.
As of August, the 10 individuals with the largest unpaid fines owed a combined total of about 1.8 trillion won. The cash collection rate for those cases was 0%.
Among them, the largest single amount of unpaid fines was 653.76265 billion won. If that person serves labor in detention rather than paying, the arrangement would erase about 597 million won in fines each day.
At a parliamentary audit of government agencies held by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee that day, Kim said: "Detention for labor was created to give low- and middle-income people who cannot afford to pay fines another option, but instead those subject to large fines are abusing the system." He added that "for some, the hourly rate comes to 75 million won."
Park Chul-woo, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecution Office, said: "In the case of high-value defaulters, too large an amount is being erased as 'emperor labor' because of the cap on detention for labor." Park added, "Institutional improvement appears necessary."
Jung Yong-hwan, acting head of the Seoul Metropolitan Prosecution Office, said, "If a good reform plan emerges in the course of consultations with the Ministry of Justice or correctional authorities, we will put it forward."