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Criminal Cases

Criminal rulings on forged documents, balance certificates, smuggling into Korea and more · 28 cases

Three representative rulings

  1. Criminal

    Ruling sentencing a defendant to 1 year in prison for illegal entry, illegal stay and aiding another person's illegal entry

    Court
    Busan District Court
    Case number
    2025고단3534
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    The defendant had previously been forcibly deported twice for illegal stay and banned from entry. The defendant boarded a container ship bound for the Republic of Korea at a foreign port, secretly got off at a Korean port and entered without permission. The defendant then stayed without a valid status of stay, and passed illegal-entry information to another person, making that person's illegal entry easier.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found the defendant guilty of violating the Immigration Act, among other offenses. Considering that the crime harms secure border management and public safety and order, as well as the motive, circumstances, means and results of the crime, it sentenced the defendant to an actual (non-suspended) prison term of 1 year.

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  2. Criminal

    Students' submission of bank balance certificate found to be an application by improper means

    Court
    Seoul Eastern District Court
    Case number
    2023노860
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendants who were international students received money by transfer from other defendants. They then obtained a bank balance certificate and returned the money. The issue was that they submitted this certificate with an application for permission to change status of stay, as a document proving tuition and living expenses.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that this act falls under applying by improper means as provided in Article 26, item 1 of the Immigration Control Act. The defendants who sent the money each received a suspended prison sentence, and the international student defendants each received a fine.

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  3. Administrative

    Court upholds departure order for foreign national fined for drunk driving

    Court
    Daegu District Court
    Case number
    2023구단11059
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    A Kazakhstan national drove under the influence of alcohol while staying in Korea. The person was convicted and fined 4,000,000 won (KRW). A departure order was then issued against this person, and a lawsuit was filed against that order.

    What did the court decide?

    The court weighed the public interest in immigration administration, the seriousness of the offense, and the disadvantage the person would suffer from the order. It concluded that the departure order could not be seen as exceeding or abusing discretion. The order was held to be lawful.

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  4. Administrative

    Court rules deportation and detention orders against plaintiff convicted of voice phishing and other crimes were lawful

    Court
    Daegu District Court
    Case number
    2022구단10929
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    A deportation order and a detention order were issued against a plaintiff who was convicted of voice phishing fraud and other crimes. The plaintiff argued that there was no clear awareness that voice phishing was a crime, that the plaintiff cooperated actively with the investigation, and that a settlement had been reached with the victim. The plaintiff said the amount of methamphetamine in the drug offense was small. The plaintiff also pointed out having lived in the Republic of Korea for a long time and having family ties here. The plaintiff therefore argued that both orders exceeded and abused discretion and were unlawful.

    What did the court decide?

    The court examined all of the circumstances the plaintiff raised and the evidence submitted. It still held that neither order could be seen as having clearly lost its reasonableness under common social standards. It also held that the disadvantage to the plaintiff could not be seen as excessive compared with the public interest the orders aim to achieve. It therefore ruled that the orders did not exceed or abuse discretion.

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  5. Criminal

    Ruling punishing a business owner and a company that received foreign nationals staying illegally from an unlicensed dispatch agency

    Court
    Ulsan District Court
    Case number
    2021고단2202
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    This is a criminal case against a business owner and a company that received foreign nationals staying illegally from a worker dispatch agency that had not obtained a permit.

    What did the court decide?

    The court gave the business owner a suspended prison sentence and fined the company.

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  6. Administrative

    Ruling upholding a departure order based on a criminal record

    Court
    Incheon District Court
    Case number
    2021구단52003
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    The plaintiff, a Chinese national, tried to distribute counterfeit KF94 masks in Korea without a manufacturing report or product approval, and received a suspended prison sentence for violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. The Head of the Incheon Immigration and Foreign Nationals Office issued a departure order to the plaintiff on the grounds of this criminal offense. The plaintiff filed a lawsuit seeking cancellation of the order.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that the offense the plaintiff committed in Korea is grounds for deportation under the Immigration Control Act. It therefore held the departure order lawful and rejected the plaintiff's claim to cancel it.

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  7. Criminal

    Criminal judgment imposing a suspended sentence on a foreigner who forged a domestic residence report card while staying unlawfully

    Court
    Ulsan District Court
    Case number
    2021고단2009
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    A foreigner did not leave Korea after the period of stay ended and stayed unlawfully. This foreigner also forged a domestic residence report card.

    What did the court decide?

    The court imposed a suspended prison sentence on this foreigner.

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  8. Criminal

    International student who took Korean language proficiency test for refugee compatriot fined

    Court
    Ulsan District Court
    Case number
    2020고정798
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    This is a criminal case involving an international student who took the Korean language proficiency test on behalf of a compatriot staying in Korea with refugee status.

    What did the court decide?

    The court sentenced the international student who took the Korean language proficiency test on someone else's behalf to a fine.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  9. Criminal

    Prison sentence of 2 years upheld for defendants who took part in forging foreigner registration cards

    Court
    Daegu District Court
    Case number
    2020노3203
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    The defendants forged several foreigner registration cards together with a forger of such cards. They then handed the forged cards to the people who ordered them. The first-instance court sentenced each defendant to 2 years in prison without suspension. The defendants appealed, saying the sentence was too heavy.

    What did the court decide?

    The appeal court examined the nature of the defendants' crimes, the extent of their involvement and the number of offenses. It found that the sentence set by the first-instance court could not be regarded as too heavy. It therefore dismissed the defendants' appeal.

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  10. Criminal

    Criminal Ruling Imposing a Suspended Sentence for Submitting False Refugee Application Documents

    Court
    Busan District Court
    Case number
    2019고단4209
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    The defendant paid 800,000 won (KRW) to a person who arranges refugee applications and received a refugee application containing false information and a monthly rent contract for real estate where the defendant did not actually live. After a health checkup, the defendant submitted these documents to the refugee division of the Immigration Office and applied for permission to change status of stay. The defendant was tried for violating the Immigration Control Act.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that making a false refugee application is an offense of a bad nature. However, it also considered, among other things, that taking departure measures against the defendant would be sufficient. It therefore sentenced the defendant to 1 year in prison, suspended for 2 years.

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  11. Criminal

    Court acquits person who obtained naturalization permit by improper means

    Court
    Seoul Southern District Court
    Case number
    2019고단1190
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    The defendant entered Korea under the name of a non-existent person, with a changed identity. The defendant then obtained naturalization permission, and was issued a passport using the resident registration number received through it and the name given under a name-change permit. The defendant traveled in and out of the country several times. The prosecutor took the position that the naturalization permission was invalid from the beginning and indicted the defendant for false entry in a passport, use of a passport containing false entries, and violation of the Immigration Act.

    What did the court decide?

    The court examined how Article 21, paragraph 1 of the Nationality Act came about and the nature of a disposition revoking naturalization permission. It found that even if the defendant obtained naturalization permission by improper means, this alone does not readily establish a defect that goes beyond grounds for revocation and makes the permission invalid from the beginning. For this and other reasons, the court acquitted the defendant.

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  12. Criminal

    Judgment sentencing a Vietnamese-born defendant to 4 years in prison for defrauding Vietnamese people of money

    Court
    Busan District Court
    Case number
    2016고단7027
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendant is a Vietnamese person who acquired Korean nationality by marrying a Korean man. The defendant took more than 1 eok 8,000 man won (KRW) from 29 Vietnamese people, claiming to arrange Korean nationality and visas for them. The defendant also took more than 3,000 man won (KRW), claiming it was for the surgery and hospital fees of a Vietnamese couple's child. These surgery and hospital costs had already been covered by donations from a welfare foundation broadcast, but the defendant concealed this fact from the victim.

    What did the court decide?

    The court sentenced the defendant to 4 years in prison.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  13. Criminal

    Ruling finds company executive director guilty of helping an undocumented worker who committed a crime escape

    Court
    Daegu District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendant was an executive director of ○○ Industry. The offender was an undocumented worker who lived in the company dormitory and worked at the factory, and the defendant knew this person well. When police officers came to the factory looking for the offender, the defendant lied, saying in effect that the defendant did not know the offender at all. The defendant also paid the offender wages.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that the defendant's act of making false statements to the police officers and paying wages, which enabled the offender to escape, constitutes the crime of helping a criminal escape.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  14. Criminal

    Trial on alleged assault of immigration officers: guilty on only some charges

    Court
    Cheongju District Court
    Case number
    2015고합44
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendants were suspected of using the force of numbers to assault and injure immigration officers who were performing their official duties. They were indicted for injury resulting from special obstruction of official duties, special obstruction of official duties, and violation of the Immigration Act.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found the defendants guilty only of the Immigration Act violation. On injury resulting from special obstruction of official duties and the related charges, the court found that the officers' execution of their duties was unlawful and that the defendants' actions against it were self-defense, and acquitted them.

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  15. Criminal

    Suspended sentences for defendants who entered the country illegally while surveillance was lax

    Court
    Incheon District Court
    Case number
    2016고단620
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    The defendants could no longer enter the country in the normal way. When immigration office staff had withdrawn and surveillance had become lax, the defendants passed through the departure inspection counter and the security screening area without permission. They then broke the lock on the locked door of the departure hall, forced the door open and slipped out of the hall, thereby entering the country illegally.

    What did the court decide?

    The court imposed suspended sentences on the defendants who entered the country illegally in this way. If the judgment becomes final, they will be deported under the Immigration Act.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  16. Criminal

    Suspended sentence for Chinese national who stayed in Korea after the permitted stay period ended

    Court
    Ulsan District Court
    Case number
    2015고단2780
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendant, a Chinese national, entered Korea on a short-term business visa with a 90-day stay period. The defendant was tried for violating the Immigration Act on the grounds of continuing to stay in Korea, including Ulsan and Daegu, even after the stay period had ended.

    What did the court decide?

    The court sentenced the defendant to 6 months in prison, suspended for 2 years.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  17. Other

    Prison term for disguising infants of Vietnamese spouses staying illegally as Koreans

    Court
    Daejeon District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    This case concerned a plan to file false birth registrations for the infants of Vietnamese spouses staying in Korea illegally, listing them as children of couples in sham marriages, obtain Korean passports, and send them to Vietnam. The sham marriage partners were men who had previously been married to Vietnamese women. The conduct included finding and gathering people to act as disguised parents, delivering documents needed for birth registration and passport applications to those involved, and handing the infants over from the Vietnamese spouses to the disguised parents.

    What did the court decide?

    The court imposed a prison sentence for this offense.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  18. Criminal

    Broker who tried to illegally move Chinese nationals who entered the island visa-free to the Korean mainland gets prison sentence

    Court
    Jeju District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    A broker who tried to illegally move Chinese nationals who entered the island visa-free to the Korean mainland was tried. The Chinese nationals were also tried together with the broker.

    What did the court decide?

    The court sentenced the broker to 10 months in prison. The court gave the Chinese nationals suspended sentences.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  19. Criminal

    Broker who tried to hide a visa-free Chinese entrant in a car ceiling to leave Jeju Port receives prison sentence

    Court
    Jeju District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    A Chinese national who entered visa-free was to be hidden inside the ceiling of a car fitted with a roof carrier, and taken out of Jeju Port by passenger ferry. A person in Korea had arranged this.

    What did the court decide?

    The court sentenced the domestic broker to prison. The Chinese national who tried to leave in hiding received a suspended sentence.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  20. Criminal

    Sentences in a Case of Employing Several Foreigners Without Work-Eligible Resident Status

    Court
    Ulsan District Court
    Case number
    2014고단3826
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    This is a case of violating the Immigration Act. Defendants 1, 2 and 3 are said to have employed several foreigners who did not hold a resident status that permits employment activities. Defendant 4 was also sentenced.

    What did the court decide?

    Defendants 1, 2 and 3 were each sentenced to 8 months in prison, suspended for 2 years, and 120 hours of community service. Defendant 4 was sentenced to a fine of 6,000,000 won (KRW). Defendant 4's offense is described as a concurrent offense under the latter part of Article 37 of the Criminal Act.

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  21. Other

    Case of forging documents to send an infant of an undocumented Vietnamese couple out of the country

    Court
    Daejeon District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    There was an infant born to a Vietnamese couple staying in Korea without legal status. A birth certificate was forged to make it appear that the infant was the child of a Korean national, and a false birth report was prepared and submitted using the forged birth certificate. Afterward, a Korean passport containing false information stating that the infant was a Korean national was obtained, in the process of sending the infant out of the country to Vietnam through Incheon International Airport.

    What did the court decide?

    Those involved received criminal punishment.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  22. Criminal

    Criminal liability of a person who re-entered Korea on a passport with a changed name and date of birth after being deported

    Court
    Seoul Eastern District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendant kept working illegally after the permitted stay ended, was caught, and left Korea in 2005 under a deportation order. Later, in China, the defendant registered a household record (hukou) under a completely different name and date of birth and obtained a new Chinese passport. The defendant passed the immigration desk at Incheon Airport with that passport. The defendant was first indicted for uttering a forged official document, but the court of first instance found the defendant not guilty. On appeal, prosecutors applied to amend the indictment, and obstruction of official duties by deceit was added as an alternative charge.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that the defendant could not properly explain how the name change came about and offered no evidence. It relied on the fact that the defendant registered the household record with personal details completely different from those before deportation, and wrote on an application to extend the period of stay as if entering for the first time. The court therefore held that the defendant obstructed the immigration inspection duties of the officer by deceit that prevented the officer from recognizing the defendant as the same person, and sentenced the defendant to 10 months in prison, suspended for 2 years.

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  23. Other

    Ruling imposing actual (non-suspended) prison sentences on defendants who re-entered Korea under changed names and birth dates after deportation

    Court
    Seoul Central District Court
    Case number
    2012고단3153
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendants were deported from the Republic of Korea and banned from entering. They then used irregular means with Chinese authorities to obtain household registers (hukou) with changed names and birth dates, and obtained Chinese passports in the changed names from Chinese diplomatic authorities. On that basis they received F-1 (visiting and residing) and H-2 (working visit) visas, entered the country, and completed foreign resident registration. The charge is that by this deception they obstructed the lawful duties of the officials in charge of visa issuance, foreign resident registration, and naturalization approval.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that the defendants, whose entry was restricted because of prior criminal records, deceived the officials in charge through so-called identity laundering. It took into account that they obtained visas, re-entered and completed foreign resident registration, or acquired Korean nationality, harming the immigration order and other interests. The court imposed actual (non-suspended) prison sentences within the range of the sentencing guidelines.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  24. Criminal

    Suspended sentence for deported foreigner who re-entered using a visa obtained with a forged ID

    Court
    Cheongju District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The defendant, a Sri Lankan national, entered Korea for employment in 1997 and was deported in 2006. Although aware that a deported foreigner cannot re-enter, the defendant had an ID card forged through a broker. Using it, the defendant obtained a passport and a Korean visa, entered the country, registered as a foreigner, and presented the same visa when leaving and re-entering. The defendant was tried on charges of deceitfully obstructing public officials who handle immigration-related duties.

    What did the court decide?

    The court sentenced the defendant to 8 months in prison and suspended execution of the sentence for 1 year from the date the judgment becomes final. Considering the method of the offense and the degree of obstruction of official duties, it found the culpability to be not light. However, it also took into account that the defendant admitted all the charges, had no prior criminal punishment, has family to support including a mother undergoing chemotherapy, and is expected to be deported once the judgment becomes final.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  25. Other

    Guilty Verdict for Using One-Day Loans to Create Bank Balance Certificates for Naturalization

    Court
    Seoul Southern District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The two defendants lent 30,000,000 KRW for a day to foreigners who had no ability to support themselves. The foreigners obtained bank balance certificates with that money and attached them to their naturalization applications. The defendants received interest. The defendants argued that the official in charge had approved the applications by readily trusting the certificates without further investigation, so obstruction of official duties by deceit was not established.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that both defendants obstructed the lawful duties of the official in charge of naturalization approval by deceit. The sentences below cover not only this offense but also both defendants' unregistered moneylending and interest-cap violations and one defendant's violation of the Administrative Scriveners Act. One defendant was sentenced to 2 years in prison, suspended for 3 years, with 240 hours of community service. The other was sentenced to 8 months in prison, suspended for 2 years, with 120 hours of community service.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  26. Other

    Ruling: Crackdown Carried Out After Entering a Factory Without Consent Was Not a Lawful Execution of Official Duties

    Court
    Daegu District Court
    Date of judgment

    What was the case about?

    A person who runs a glove manufacturing business was tried on the charge of obstructing a crackdown on illegal residents at the factory. The first trial found the person guilty, and the defendant appealed. The charges included blocking the enforcement vehicle from leaving, pushing enforcement team members, and using abusive language.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found that the enforcement officials entered the factory and began the crackdown without the factory manager's consent or permission. It therefore judged that the crackdown could not be regarded as a lawful execution of official duties, and that the offense of obstructing official duties was not established. The court found that the officials' act of identifying themselves to the manager and announcing that they had come to carry out a crackdown was only a one-sided notice, not the obtaining of consent. The judgment of the first trial was overturned and the defendant was found not guilty.

    View original ↗ Summary page
  27. Other

    Prison and Fine for Posing as Korea Representative of Labor Ministry

    Court
    Seoul Central District Court
    Case number
    2010고합1050
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    The case concerns a defendant who, together with others, deceived people into believing the defendant was the Korea representative of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, approved by the governments of both countries. The defendant is said to have had victims, who had received money from Uzbek industrial trainees under names such as management fees, commissions and pensions, send that money to an account managed by the defendant. The defendant denied this, saying the defendant was lawfully appointed and acted only as an intermediary.

    What did the court decide?

    Based on the victims' statements and judicial assistance requested from Uzbekistan, the court found the defendant guilty. The parts in which totals of 1,402,671,730 won, 661,407,280 won and 17,944,450 won were received from three victim parties respectively are guilty. The part of 202,768,469 won, recognized as received as salary or commission, is not guilty. For the part of 3,841,842,249 won, for which the victims and number of persons were not specified, the prosecution was dismissed. The defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for 3 years and a fine of 1 billion won (KRW).

    View original ↗ Summary page
  28. Other

    Ruling: Resisting enforcement begun without prior consent is not obstruction of official duties

    Court
    Uijeongbu District Court
    Posted on original board

    What was the case about?

    Immigration officials carried out enforcement at a factory against the defendant, an undocumented resident. The defendant threatened them with a work knife and stabbed the thigh of an official who rushed in to subdue him, causing a wound that required about 2 weeks of treatment. The defendant was charged with injury by group or dangerous weapon, etc., and aggravated obstruction of official duties.

    What did the court decide?

    The court found the defendant guilty of the injury charge and sentenced him to 1 year 6 months in prison, suspended for 3 years. The officials entered the workplace and began enforcement without the factory manager's prior consent, and there was no urgent circumstance that made consent impossible to obtain. The court therefore held that the enforcement began unlawfully. As a result, it found no proof of the crime for the aggravated obstruction charge, which presupposes that the performance of official duties was lawful.

    View original ↗ Summary page

Source: Republic of Korea Courts, Major Rulings of Courts Nationwide

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Frequently asked questions

What do the Criminal Cases rulings cover?

This collects 28 rulings on Criminal rulings on forged documents, balance certificates, smuggling into Korea and more. Each case is laid out as what happened, then how the court ruled.

Can I apply a ruling directly to my own case?

No. A ruling decides the facts of that one case, so the outcome can differ for another case. For your own situation, check with an official body such as the immigration office with jurisdiction.

Where can I read the original ruling?

Each case has a “view original” link to the public post on the Supreme Court of Korea website. KoreaMoa does not reproduce full rulings; it only provides summaries.

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