PUNISHMENT OF MINOR OFFENSES ACT

Article 1(Purpose) #

The purpose of this Act is to protect the freedom and rights of citizens and to contribute to maintaining good order by providing for matters necessary for categorizing and punishing minor offenses.

Article 2(Prohibition against Abuse) #

In applying this Act, close attention shall be paid to prevent unlawful infringement on the rights of citizens, and this Act shall not apply for any purpose beyond the original purpose of this Act.

Article 3(Categories of Minor Offenses) #

(1) Any of the following persons shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand won, by misdemeanor imprisonment, or by a minor fine: <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017; Act No. 14908, Oct. 24, 2017>

1. (Breaking into Empty Houses, etc.) Any person who breaks into an uninhabited or abandoned house, or breaches a fence thereof, or enters a structure, ship or car, without good cause;

2. (Carrying Concealed Weapons) Any person who carries a concealed tool or implement, such as a knife, steel rod, or hacksaw which may be used to inflict a serious injury on human life or body or to break into a house or other structures, without good cause;

3. (Preparation for Violence, etc.) Any person who engages in preparatory conduct in a plan to inflict a physical injury on another person, or the person who has planned to inflict such injury;

4. Deleted; <by Act No. 11778, May 22, 2013>

5. (Change, etc. of Scenes of Dead Bodies) Any person who conceals a stillborn baby or tampers with the scene where a dead body or stillborn baby is found, without good cause;

6. (Failure to Report Persons in Need of Support) Any person who has knowledge of a senior citizen, child, person with a disability, injured person, or sick person in need of support or a dead body or stillborn baby at a place under his/her management, but fails to report such to any relevant public official without delay;

7. (False Assumption, etc. of Official Titles) Any person who falsely assumes any domestic or foreign public office, rank, decoration, and academic degree, or any name, title, etc. prescribed by any statute, or using any uniform, medal, badge, commemorative medal, or other emblems prescribed by statutes or others similar thereto without being entitled to do so;

8. (Inertia Selling of Goods and Solicitation) Any person who forces any third person to purchase unrequested goods, any person who demands money in return for any unrequested service or skill he/she has provided, or any person who solicits customers noisily with the intent of running his/her business at a place where many people gather or frequent;

9. (Unauthorized Posting, etc. of Advertising Materials) Any person who posts, hangs, or inserts advertising materials, etc. on, in or into, or writes, paints, or engraves on a house or other artificial structure, car, etc. of any third person or organization without the consent of the person or organization, any person who removes, defaces, or damages signboards or other markings or artificial structures of any third person or organization without the consent of the person or organization, or any person who scatters advertising materials, etc. at public places without permission;

Article 4(Abetting or Aiding) #

Any person who abets or aids any third person to commit any offense provided in Article 3, shall be punished in the same manner as actual offenders are punished.

Article 5(Exemption from, and Concurrent Imposition of, Punishments) #

In punishing an offender pursuant to Article 3, the offender may be exempt from punishment or may be concurrently sentenced to misdemeanor imprisonment and a minor fine, in consideration of the extenuating circumstances.

Article 6(Definitions) #

(1) The term "offense" in this Chapter means any violation that constitutes any subparagraph of Article 3 (1) and (2), and the detailed scope thereof shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree.

(2) The term "offender" in this Chapter means any person who commits an offense, except for the following persons:

1. Any person who habitually commits an offense;

2. Any person to whom the punishment of misdemeanor imprisonment is deemed appropriate in consideration of the motive, means, and consequence of the relevant crime;

3. Any person who engages in a conduct involving victims;

4. Any person under 18 years of age.

(3) The term "penalty" means money to be paid by an offender to the National Treasury or to the treasury of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province according to notification given under Article 7.

Article 7(Dispositions of Notification) #

(1) The chief of a police station or coast guard station, the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor, or the chief of the Railroad Police may impose a penalty on any person recognized as an offender in writing specifying the grounds therefor and may give notification to the relevant person to pay the penalty: Provided, That the same shall not apply to any of the following persons: <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>

1. Any person who refuses to receive a written notification;

2. Any person whose residence or identity is uncertain;

3. Other persons to whom it is impractical to give notification.

(2) The amount of a penalty to be notified under paragraph (1) shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree, in consideration of the category of the relevant offense.

(3) When the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor or the chief of the Railroad Police gives notification pursuant to paragraph (1), he/she shall notify the chief of the relevant police station, of such fact.

Article 8(Payment of Penalties) #

(1) Any person in receipt of a written notification given under Article 7 shall pay a penalty to the bank designated by the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, the Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard or the chief of the Railroad Police or a branch or agent office thereof; to a post office; or to the financial institution designated by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor or a branch thereof; within ten days after receipt of such written notification: Provided, That when he/she is unable to pay the penalty within such period due to any natural disaster or inevitable cause, he/she shall pay the penalty within five days from the date such inevitable cause ceases. <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>

(2) Any person who fails to pay a penalty by the payment deadline provided in paragraph (1), shall pay the penalty notified plus an amount equivalent to 20/100 of such penalty within 20 days from the date after expiration of the payment deadline.

(3) No person who has paid a penalty pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be re-punished for the relevant offense.

Article 8-2(Payment of Penalties) #

(1) The payment of penalty may be made with a credit card, debit card, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “credit card, etc.”), other than by the payment methods under Article 8, through a penalty-payment service provider prescribed by Presidential Decree. In such cases, “penalty-payment service provider” means an institution designated as an agency for penalty-payment service, as prescribed by Presidential Decree, which processes payments made with a credit card, etc. through information and communications network.

(2) Where the payment of penalty is made with a credit card, etc. under paragraph (1), the date on which a penalty-payment service provider approves such payment shall be deemed the payment date.

(3) A penalty-payment service provider may receive a service fee for payment of penalty from a payer, in return for providing its service for the payment of an administrative fine by means of a credit card, etc., as prescribed by Presidential Decree.

(4) Necessary matters for the designation and operation of penalty-payment service providers and the fees for such payment service shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree.

[This Article Newly Inserted by Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016]

Article 9(Treatment of Persons, etc. Failing to Comply with Dispositions of Notification) #

(1) The chiefs of police stations and coast guard stations and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor shall request a summary trial without delay with respect to any of the following persons: Provided, That the same shall not apply to those who have paid the penalty notified plus an amount equivalent to 50/100 of such penalty before a summary trial is requested: <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>

1. Any person who falls under any subparagraph of Article 7 (1);

2. Any person who fails to pay a penalty by the payment deadline provided in Article 8 (2).

(2) When a defendant with respect to whom a summary trial has been requested pursuant to paragraph (1) 2 pays the penalty notified plus an amount equivalent to 50/100 of such penalty and submits the relevant evidentiary documents before a sentence is pronounced in the summary trial, the chief of the relevant police station, the chief of the relevant coast guard station, and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor shall cancel his/her request for a summary trial for such defendant. <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>

(3) No person who has paid a penalty pursuant to the proviso to paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) shall be re-punished for the relevant offense.

(4) If any person falls under any subparagraph of paragraph (1), the chief of the Railroad Police shall immediately notify the chief of the relevant police station or the relevant coast guard station, of such fact, and forward relevant documents. In such cases, the chief of the relevant police station or the relevant coast guard station so notified shall handle it pursuant to paragraphs (1) through (3). <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>