SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jin Yeong Chung, Inhak Lee and Seung Hyeon Lee, Kim & Chang
7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public Civil court proceedings are, as a rule, open to public. The court may limit public access to a hearing if it considers that this might endanger national security, public peace and order, or good public morals. Even in a closed hearing, the presiding judge may specifically allow per- sons to stay in the courtroom if deemed proper. 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge Generally speaking, there is a high level of inter- vention by the judge during civil case hearings in Korea. The presiding judge can seek clarification from the parties by questioning the parties about factual or legal matters and by urging the parties to present further evidence. In addition, the judge must investigate and determine sua sponte not only procedural mat- ters (such as elements for a cause of action), but also certain substantive matters (for example, the degrees of contributory negligence between the parties, and quantification of alimony). A date of the court decision will be separately designated, usually within two to six weeks from the date of the last hearing. For small cases with a claim amount of KRW30 million or less, a judg- ment may be rendered immediately after the final hearing on the same day. 7.8 General Timeframes for Proceedings Once the plaintiff files a complaint to the court, the court will serve the complaint together with a guide on how to respond to the defendant within one to two weeks. The defendant is required to file an answer to the court within 30 days upon receipt of the complaint. If deemed appropriate, the court may schedule a preparatory hearing after the exchange of the
Judges may determine whether the facts alleged by a party are true on the basis of their full dis- cretion and there are no restrictions on the form of the evidence that can be relied upon by the judge. Documents prepared after the com- mencement of the case, or a copy of the docu- ment, are also acceptable. Even a document produced in the course of settlement discussion An expert may provide testimony in Korean civil proceedings, upon appointment by the court. If there is need for an expert, a party may file an application with the court, explaining the need for expert testimony and the matters requiring the expert’s review and opinion. The applying party needs to pay the court expert’s costs in advance. is admissible as evidence. 7.5 Expert Testimony The court may also appoint an expert on its own. A party can challenge the court’s appointment if there are circumstances that would prevent the expert from providing expert analysis in good faith. Although an expert’s opinion is not legally bind- ing, the court will often respect the outcome of the expert examination or the expert report. The parties may provide comments on the expert opinion, although it is up to the judge’s discre- tion whether to take them into account. A party may submit an expert report from a party-appointed expert. Such an expert report will be treated as a documentary exhibit and not expert evidence. In general, more weight will be given to a court-appointed expert than an opin- ion of a privately retained expert.
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