Violation and amount of penalty
What is a penalty?
- A ‘penalty’ is an amount of money that a violator of the road traffic regulations is legally required to pay in compliance with the notification disposition according to Article 163 of the Road Traffic Act to the National Treasury or the Depository of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (Article 162(3) of the Road Traffic Act).
- ‘Violation of the regulations of the Road Traffic Act’ refers mainly to minor violations of the traffic regulations. A driver who is found to have committed a violation shall be punished by a penalty imposed according to the type of motor vehicle (Article 162 of the Road Traffic Act, Enforcement Decree of the Road Traffic Act, Article 93 and Attached Table 8).
- ‘Violation of the regulations’ refers to a violation falling under Article 156 or 157 of the Road Traffic Act, the scope and penalty of which are stipulated in Attached Tables 8 and 9 of the Enforcement Decree of the Road Traffic Act (Article 162(1) of the Road Traffic Act, Article 93(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Road Traffic Act).
Payment notification and proceedings for summary judgment
A person subject to penalty payment notification and summary judgment
- Following a violation of the regulations, a penalty payment notification is issued. Persons with ① an uncertain name or address, ② who are likely to abscond or ③ who refuse to receive the notification shall be brought for summary judgment (Article 163(1), 165(1)1 of the Road Traffic Act).
※ A summary judgment, which consists in making an adjudication through prompt and adequate proceedings for criminal acts for which the evidence is obvious enough and the degree of criminality is minor, is a summary trial charged by the judge of the district court, branch court, or Si/Gun court at the demand of a chief of police with a view to imposing a period of detention, or a penalty or fine for negligence not exceeding KRW 200,000 (Articles 1 and 2 of the Act on the Proceedings for Summary Judgments).
∙ A defendant can apply for a regular trial with regard to a summary judgment. The summary judgment shall be invalidated in cases where there is a judgment by regular trial (Article 14(1), 15 of the Act on the Proceedings for Summary Judgments).
∙ The summary judgment shall have the same force as the final and conclusive judgment in the event of a lapse of the application period for a regular trial, renunciation of the right to apply for a regular trial, or dropping of the application for a regular trial (Article 16 of the Act on the Proceedings for Summary Judgments).
Payment of penalty
- Any person who receives a penalty payment notification shall pay to the national treasury account at any bank, or at any branch office or agency of such bank, or at any post office or any financial company, etc. or its branch office designated by the Governor of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, within 10 days of the date on which he/she receives a penalty payment notification. In the event of being unable to pay the penalty within the period due to natural disaster or other inevitable reasons, he/she shall pay the penalty within 5 days of the day on which such inevitable reasons cease to exist (Article 164(1) of the Road Traffic Act).
- Any person who fails to pay the penalty within the deadline shall pay 1.2 times the notified penalty within 20 days of the day after the day on which the payment period expires (Article 164(2) of the Road Traffic Act).
Claim for summary judgment against persons who fail to implement the notification disposition, etc.
- Summary judgment is requested when a penalty is not paid within the payment period according to its notification disposition. In the event that 1.5 times the penalty is paid before the sentence of the summary judgment, the request is withdrawn (Article 165(1)2, (2) of the Road Traffic Act).
- Any person who fails to turn up for a summary judgment until 60 days have passed from the due date of appearance or payment shall receive 40 penalty points on their driver’s license (Article 93 of the Road Traffic Act, Enforcement Regulation of the Road Traffic Act, Attached Table 28 no.3 A. 7).
- If a person who has become the object of a suspension disposition due to a failure to appear for a summary judgment until 60 days have elapsed from the deadline for payment of a penalty, or who is under suspension disposition, pays the notified penalty plus 1.5 times the notified penalty and submits the documentary evidence, he/she shall be exempt from a suspension disposition and/or the execution of the remaining period (Enforcement Regulation of the Road Traffic Act, Attached Table 28 no.3 note 2).
· If a person’s suspension disposition is caused by the sum total of penalty points imposed on account of other violations, execution shall not be exempted for the suspension disposition period caused by the other violations (Enforcement Regulation of the Road Traffic Act, Attached table 28 no.3 note 2).