Korean constitutional complaint deadlines start with the complaint type
A constitutional complaint filed even one day late is dismissed by a designated panel of the Constitutional Court of Korea, which effectively closes the route for good.
The filing period is not a single number: it splits into 90 days, one year or 30 days depending on the type, and a court-appointed counsel application can change the reference date.
This calculator converts Articles 69 and 70 of the Korean Constitutional Court Act into calendar arithmetic and shows the deadline and days left.
It is based on Korean rules verified for 2026 and is a planning aid, not legal advice.
Who this is for
- A litigant whose motion to request constitutional review of a statute was dismissed and who must file within 30 days
- A suspect or victim challenging a prosecutorial act such as a suspended indictment
- A party considering a complaint against a final court judgment, available since March 12, 2026
- Older adults and low-income households asking whether they qualify for court-appointed counsel, for example as basic pension recipients
What the calculator does and does not cover
- For a general complaint it takes whichever ends first: 90 days from the date you learned of the cause, or one year from the date the cause occurred.
- It separately computes the 30-day limits after another statutory remedy, after a court judgment becomes final, and after dismissal of a motion to request review.
- If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, public holiday or substitute holiday, it shows the next working day.
- It checks whether a counsel application was on time, recalculates the deadline after a non-appointment notice, and shows the 60-day petition deadline for appointed counsel.
- It maps your situation to the nine means categories in the Constitutional Court rules on court-appointed counsel.
Only Article 68 constitutional complaints are covered.
Competence disputes, impeachment and party dissolution are excluded.
Admissibility requirements such as exhaustion, directness, present harm, self-relatedness and the interest in relief, and the chance of success, are not assessed.
A complaint filed on time can still be dismissed if another requirement fails.
Filing periods by complaint type
The table summarizes Article 69 of the Constitutional Court Act as effective on March 12, 2026.
The start date is the day notice was actually received or the judgment became final, which can differ from the decision date.
Constitutional complaint types with legal basis, start date, period in days and notes| Type | Basis | Start date | Period (days) | Notes |
|---|
| General complaint (knowledge) | Article 69(1) main text | Date you learned of the cause | 90 | Compared with the one-year limit; the earlier end applies |
| General complaint (occurrence) | Article 69(1) main text | Date the cause occurred | 365–366 | One year counted on the calendar |
| After another statutory remedy | Article 69(1) proviso | Notice of the final decision | 30 | After exhausting appeals or lawsuits that the law provides |
| Court judgment | Article 68(3), Article 69(1) proviso | Date the judgment became final | 30 | Effective 2026-03-12; final judgments and three grounds only |
| Complaint after dismissed review motion | Article 68(2), Article 69(2) | Notice of the dismissal | 30 | The same ground cannot be raised again in that case |
A complaint against a court judgment is allowed only where the final judgment contradicts a Constitutional Court decision, skipped the lawful procedure required by the Constitution and statutes, or clearly violated the Constitution and statutes and infringed basic rights.
The petition must attach the judgment and a certificate of finality, so confirm the finality date from that certificate.
How the days are counted: first day excluded, holidays rolled over
Article 40 of the Constitutional Court Act applies civil procedure law and the Administrative Litigation Act to its procedures, and Civil Procedure Act Article 170 sends period calculation to the Civil Act.
Under Civil Act Article 157 the first day is excluded and counting starts the next day; under Article 159 the period expires at the end of the last day.
Article 161 provides that a period whose last day is a Saturday or public holiday expires on the following day.
90-day limit = knowledge date + 90 days
One-year limit = the day before the same date one year after the day following occurrence; if that date does not exist, the last day of that month
30-day limit = notice or finality date + 30 days
Deadline = the next working day if the date above is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday
For example, if the final remedy decision was notified on 2026-09-03, the arithmetic end is 2026-10-03.
That day is a Saturday and National Foundation Day, October 4 is a Sunday and October 5 is a substitute holiday, so the actual deadline moves 3 days to 2026-10-06.
The holiday list follows the Korean Regulation on Public Holidays of Government Offices for 2026–2027, including Labor Day; other years roll over weekends only.
Choosing the occurrence date and the knowledge date
The start date is where general complaints are most often disputed.
For an administrative act, the occurrence date is usually the date of the act and the knowledge date the day the notice was received.
When challenging a prosecutorial act such as a suspended indictment, keep the date you were notified of it.
Complaints against statutes
If a statute infringes rights as soon as it takes effect, file within 90 days of learning it took effect and within one year of its effective date.
If the triggering situation arises only later, count 90 days from learning of that event and one year from the event itself (Constitutional Court, August 29, 2024, 2021Hun-Ma175).
Statutes with a grace period
Where a statute applies only after a grace period, the filing period runs from the day the grace period ends.
The Court overruled earlier decisions that used the effective date in its April 23, 2020 decision 2017Hun-Ma479.
The calculator does not decide which day counts as the occurrence date.
It uses the dates you enter, so take them from the decision, notice or official gazette.
You may leave the knowledge date blank, but then only the one-year limit is computed and a warning explains that the 90-day limit could be earlier.
How a court-appointed counsel application affects the period
A private person cannot file or conduct a constitutional complaint without a lawyer as representative (Constitutional Court Act Article 25(3)).
A person without the means to hire a lawyer may ask the Court to appoint counsel, and the filing period is then judged by the application date (Article 70(1)).
In other words, an application received before the deadline preserves the period.
Awaiting a decision
An application on or before the deadline is shown as preserving the period.
A late application does not revive an expired period.
Non-appointment notice
The days from application to receipt of the notice are excluded from the filing period (Article 70(4)).
New deadline = original arithmetic end + (notice date − application date) days.
Counsel appointed
Appointed counsel must file the petition within 60 days of appointment (Article 70(5)).
Their fee is paid from the national treasury (Article 70(6)).
If both the application day and the notice day were excluded, the extension could be one day longer.
The calculator shows the conservative date that is one day shorter so the deadline is not missed.
If you applied on the last day and were rejected, the arithmetic new deadline could fall before the notice date; the calculator then uses the notice date and warns you to file immediately.
The nine means categories for court-appointed counsel
Article 4(1) of the Constitutional Court rules on the appointment and fees of court-appointed counsel defines who lacks the means to hire a lawyer.
Meeting any one item is enough to apply; item 2 was deleted.
- Item 1 Average monthly income below 3,000,000 KRW
- Item 3 Recipients under the National Basic Living Security Act and near-poverty households
- Item 4 Persons of national merit and their bereaved families or families
- Item 5 Persons eligible for support under the Single-Parent Family Support Act
- Item 6 Basic pension recipients under the Basic Pension Act
- Item 7 Recipients under the Disability Pension Act
- Item 8 Protected North Korean defectors
- Item 9 Others for whom hiring a lawyer cannot be expected given disability or the finances of the applicant or family (discretionary)
Meeting the means test does not guarantee appointment
The application must state the grounds of the complaint and include documents proving the category; missing items lead to an order to correct (Rule Article 4(2) and (3)).
The Court may refuse to appoint counsel if the complaint is clearly inadmissible, clearly without merit or an abuse of rights (Act Article 70(3) proviso).
The calculator therefore only labels the result as meets, discretionary, not met or unknown, and does not score the chance of appointment.
Step-by-step use
- Pick the type: general, after another remedy, final court judgment, or dismissed review motion.
- Enter the start dates: occurrence and knowledge dates for general complaints, or the notice or finality date for 30-day types.
- Enter the counsel stage: not applied, awaiting a decision, rejected or appointed, with the matching dates.
- Check the means test: enter average monthly income, tick any benefit categories and, if you have one, a private retainer quote.
- Save the result: review the deadline, days left, extended deadline and means label, then save a TXT file or print it for a lawyer consultation.
Changing an input hides the previous result, so recalculate with confirmed dates.
Names, case numbers and resident registration numbers are not collected, and inputs are neither sent to a server nor stored.
Worked examples: a fictional case and a real decision
Fictional example: extension after rejection
If the act occurred on 2026-08-20 and notice arrived on 2026-08-27, the 90-day limit is 2026-11-25 and the one-year limit 2027-08-20, so the deadline is 2026-11-25.
With a counsel application on 2026-11-20 and a rejection notice on 2026-12-15, those 25 days are not counted, so the arithmetic deadline becomes 2026-12-20, 25 days after 2026-11-25.
That day is a Sunday, so the extended deadline is 2026-12-21, only 6 days after the notice.
Real decision: 2026Hun-Ma1707
The judgments became final on 2026-03-05, so the 30-day arithmetic end was 2026-04-04, a Saturday.
The complainant applied for counsel on 2026-03-16 with rejection deemed served on 2026-04-09, and again on 2026-04-22 with rejection deemed served on 2026-05-08.
Even excluding both periods (24 and 16 days), the deadline was around 2026-05-14, so the filing on 2026-05-27 was dismissed (Constitutional Court, June 9, 2026).
The calculator handles one counsel application.
After several rejected applications, check that each new application fell within the previous extended deadline, then add the days from the second application to its notice by hand.
The fictional dates and amounts illustrate the tool and do not describe any real case.
Easy-to-miss cautions
Justified reasons are rarely accepted
The Court applies the justified-reason clause of Administrative Litigation Act Article 20(2) and the subsequent-completion rule of Civil Procedure Act Article 173(1), but in 2026Hun-Ma1686 (June 9, 2026) it held that a claim of reduced capacity due to illness did not excuse a late filing.
If the deadline has passed, do not rely on the calculator alone; review possible exceptions with a lawyer.
Transition rule for court-judgment complaints and costs
Addendum Article 2 of the March 12, 2026 amendment applies the new provisions to complaints filed after it took effect.
For a judgment that became final before then, first check whether 30 days from finality have already passed.
Proceedings are generally free because the state bears the costs, but the Court may order a deposit and order it forfeited if the complaint is dismissed or rejected as an abuse of rights (Article 37).
When another remedy must come first
If another statute provides a remedy, it must be exhausted before filing, or the complaint is dismissed (Article 68(1) proviso and Article 72(3) item 1).
If administrative appeal or litigation periods are still open, check them first with the administrative appeal deadline calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Which applies, 90 days or one year?
Both.
The deadline is whichever ends first: 90 days from knowledge or one year from occurrence.
Even with late knowledge, filing is barred after one year.
What if the deadline is a Saturday or public holiday?
Under Civil Act Article 161 it expires on the next day.
If that day is also a holiday, it moves to the next working day.
The calculator includes 2026–2027 public and substitute holidays.
Does a counsel application stop the clock?
An application before the deadline preserves the period as of the application date.
If rejected, the days from application to notice are excluded and the deadline moves later by that amount.
Is the 3,000,000 KRW income limit household income?
Rule Article 4(1) item 1 refers to an applicant with average monthly income below 3,000,000 KRW.
Family finances can be considered under discretionary item 9, so prepare income records.
Will a basic pension recipient always get counsel?
No.
Basic pension recipients meet item 6, but counsel may be refused if the complaint is clearly inadmissible or without merit.
When must a complaint against a court judgment be filed?
Within 30 days of the judgment becoming final.
The route took effect on March 12, 2026 and is limited to final judgments and three statutory grounds.
When does the period start after a review motion is dismissed?
Thirty days from the day the dismissal was notified.
Check the service date rather than the decision date.
The same ground cannot be raised again in the same case.
Is there any way after the deadline passes?
An exception may apply for a justified reason or a cause beyond your responsibility, but it is narrow.
Illness alone was not accepted in a 2026 decision, so consult a lawyer.
Sources checked and update policy
Checked on 2026-10-31 against the Korean National Law Information OPEN API for current status and full text.
The Constitutional Court Act is Act No. 21452 effective 2026-03-12, and the counsel rules are the version effective 2019-06-19.
- Constitutional Court Act Articles 25, 37, 40, 68–73 and 75 and Addendum Article 2, MST 284151
- Constitutional Court Rules on Court-Appointed Counsel Articles 4–9, MST 208973
- Civil Act Articles 157, 159, 160 and 161, MST 284415; Civil Procedure Act Article 170, MST 290113
- Regulation on Public Holidays of Government Offices Articles 2 and 3, MST 285779
- Decisions: 2026Hun-Ma1707 and 2026Hun-Ma1686 (June 9, 2026); 2021Hun-Ma175 (August 29, 2024); 2017Hun-Ma479 (April 23, 2020)
Recalculate whenever the Act or the rules change.
The holiday list is updated each year, and dates from 2028 onward show a weekend-only warning.
This tool does not replace a legal opinion or official guidance from the Constitutional Court.
Once you know the deadline, decide today’s step
With less than two weeks left, filing a counsel application after checking the means test is the surest way to preserve the period.
If you do not qualify or are rejected, retain a private lawyer before the extended deadline.
Save the result as TXT and bring the date evidence to your consultation.
To check eligibility for free legal aid under the Korea Legal Aid Corporation, see the legal aid eligibility calculator.
To compare retainer and success-fee levels, use the lawyer fee calculator.