Dispute resolution in South Korea

Abstract

This chapter brings to light some of the behavioural characteristics and institutional frameworks of dispute resolution in South Korea. It examines the conventional assumption that traditional Korean culture fosters aversion to litigation and predilection for mediation. It introduces empirical data that show a high litigation rate and analyzes the correlations between various variables and the litigation rate. While the essay is cautious because the majority of lawsuits are by repeat players, which obscures the attitudes of the ordinary members of the populace, it shows that the conventional image of non-litigious Koreans is not supported by empirical data. At the same time, it presents findings that show strong correlations between the frequency of litigation and economic and institutional variables - namely, the economic growth, the number of judges and the number of lawyers. The second half of the essay analyzes the court-annexed mediation procedure. The discovered patterns deviate from the assumption that Koreans prefer non-adjudicative means of dispute resolution. The chapter concludes that, while there has been a substantial increase of “mediation from above,” it owes more to pursuit of efficiency and the resultant institutionalization of intervention by the bench than to cultural inertia.