Civil (single judge) Processing Time

A general first-instance civil case heard by a single judge (larger than small-claims). Below is the average time from filing to judgment at each court level.

  1. 1First instancesingle judgeabout 7.3 months(222.1d)
  2. 2AppealDistrict Court appellate divisionabout 10.8 months(327.5d)
  3. 3Final appealSupreme Court (small-claims included)about 3.3 months(99.9d)

If contested all the way to the final appeal, the average time from the first filing to a final, unappealable judgment is about 2y 8mo (971.3d).

Source Supreme Court of Korea, 2025 Judicial Yearbook (figures for 2024, checked 2026-09-03, 표29, 30). Averages vary a lot by case.