South Korea Enacts Special Law Granting Civil Retrials to Emergency-Measure Victims

The Republic of Korea has enacted a special law granting civil retrial rights to victims of the Yushin-era emergency measures, allowing them to reopen state compensation suits that ended in final dismissal. The Special Act on Civil Retrial for Victims of Emergency Measures (법률제21885호) was promulgated by President Lee Jae-myung on 8 September 2026 and published in the Official Gazette (관보) No. 21317, section I (Laws).

The law responds to the Supreme Court’s en banc ruling of 30 August 2022 (case 2018다212610), which declared Presidential Emergency Measure No. 9 of 13 May 1975 unconstitutional and void. Victims who had earlier sued for state compensation citing the measure’s unconstitutionality had lost because the then-prevailing precedent rejected the claim and applied the statute of limitations, leaving their final judgments unremedied. The new statute, countersigned by Prime Minister Han Seong-suk and Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung (Ministry of Justice jurisdiction), takes effect on the day of promulgation.

Who is covered

The law defines “emergency-measure victims” as persons who suffered under the decrees issued under Article 53 of the Yushin Constitution, and extends protection to their families.

• Persons who received a final guilty verdict for violating an emergency measure.
• Persons who received a suspended sentence or a dismissal (면소) judgment for such a violation.
• Persons who suffered criminal disadvantages including arrest, detention, seizure or search.
• Family members: the victim’s spouse, direct ascendants and descendants, and siblings.

The retrial and compensation mechanism

Article 3 creates a special civil retrial: victims and their families who received a final dismissal in a state compensation suit before the 2022 en banc ruling may file a retrial suit notwithstanding Article 451 of the Civil Procedure Act. Article 4 guarantees that victims and their families may claim state compensation under the State Compensation Act regardless of whether they obtained an acquittal in a criminal retrial or a prosecutor’s no-suspicion disposition.

• Retrial suits and state compensation claims must be filed within three years of the law’s effective date (Article 5).
• Retrial procedure otherwise follows Articles 453 to 455 and 458 of the Civil Procedure Act (Article 6).

The four emergency measures

The law enumerates the specific decrees whose victims are eligible, all issued under the Yushin Constitution (in force from the full revision of 27 December 1972 until the revision of 27 October 1980).

• Presidential Emergency Measure No. 1 (8 January 1974).
• Presidential Emergency Measure No. 4 (3 April 1974).
• Presidential Emergency Measure No. 7 (8 April 1975).
• Presidential Emergency Measure for the Protection of National Security and Public Order (13 May 1975).

The statute’s stated purpose is to confirm that the state’s acts of issuing, applying and enforcing the unconstitutional and void measures were unlawful, to restore the fundamental rights of the victims, and to settle a wrongful past in pursuit of a genuine rule-of-law state. For thousands of citizens who suffered under the 1970s authoritarian decrees and were barred from compensation by final judgments, the law opens a three-year window to seek retrial and damages, marking a landmark step in South Korea’s historical reparation of the Yushin era.

Source: Republic of Korea Official Gazette (관보), No. 21317, 8 September 2026, section I (Laws), p. 8 (official reference: 법률제21885호, Special Act on Civil Retrial for Victims of Emergency Measures).