What starts a Korean criminal appeal period?
After a Korean criminal judgment, first establish the pronouncement date and the court receiving the appeal filing.
The date a relative heard the result or the written judgment arrived by post may be different.
Criminal Procedure Act Article 343 uses pronouncement or notification of the decision; Articles 358 and 374 prescribe seven days for an appeal and final appeal respectively.
This calculator separates the basic seven-day filing period from the 20-day period after actual receipt of a record-receipt notice.
Defendants facing a fine, suspended sentence or imprisonment, and relatives organizing their documents, can use it to discuss preparation with counsel.
Detention or appointment of counsel never adds days automatically; situations requiring case review are labeled separately.
Korea-specific ordinary criminal procedure, 2026.
Official sources checked October 19, 2026 (2026-10-19); the Act and Rules texts used are effective 2026-10-02.
Historical and future dates also use these rules as a planning reference; the tool does not establish which law applied at another time or provide legal advice.
Filing 7 days, grounds 20 days, response 10 days
The appeal filing and statement of grounds have different purposes, triggers and receiving courts.
Filing an appeal does not complete the separate grounds requirement, and a later grounds deadline does not cure a late appeal filing.
When only the prosecutor appeals, the defendant’s response is measured separately from service of the other party’s grounds.
Korean criminal appeal documents, triggering dates, ordinary periods, courts and statutory references| Document | Trigger | Days | Court / provision |
|---|
| Appeal filing | First-instance pronouncement | 7 | Court below · Articles 358, 359 |
| Final appeal filing | Second-instance pronouncement | 7 | Court below · Articles 374, 375 |
| Appeal / final appeal grounds | Each person’s lawful record notice | 20 | Appellate court · Articles 361-3, 379 |
| Response | Service of the other party’s grounds | 10 | Appellate court · same provisions |
| Immediate complaint | Notification of an eligible order | 7 | Court below · Articles 405, 406 |
For response filing, check the wording and court directions under Article 361-3(3) for appeals and Article 379(4) for final appeals.
These basic periods do not establish the rules for every special criminal proceeding or special-statute case.
Which evidence should support each input?
Pronouncement / notification
Verify pronouncement from the hearing record, judgment identification and court information.
For an immediate complaint, establish that the order is eligible and use its legally effective notification date.
A date when a relative passed on the news is not a substitute.
Record-receipt notice
The appellate court’s receipt of a record is different from the defendant’s or counsel’s receipt of the corresponding notice.
Check the notice and service record for each actual lawful receipt date.
If notice has not arrived, leave its date blank rather than predicting it.
Counsel history / appointment
Distinguish counsel retained before the notice, court-appointed counsel with actual notice, and private counsel retained after the defendant’s notice.
The court appointment date is an optional history check, not a trigger to which 20 days are added.
Reference / actual filing date
The reference date only determines the countdown and never changes the legal trigger.
An optional actual filing date is compared with the calculated schedule by calendar date.
The initial reference is today in Korea; the example uses a fixed date for reproducibility.
No case name, identification number or relative’s name is required.
Leave unknown dates blank and identify the documents needed to verify them.
Impossible dates and inconsistent combinations, such as filing before pronouncement, produce input errors.
Exclude the first day; adjust an endpoint holiday
- Exclude the trigger day.
Under Article 66, the first day is excluded for periods expressed in days.
Add seven calendar days to pronouncement/notification for filing and 20 days to the relevant record-notice receipt for grounds.
- Count intermediate weekends and holidays.
Seven days does not mean seven business days.
A weekend or holiday inside the period still counts; determine separately whether the final day is a holiday.
- Move only the endpoint.
If it is Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, continue to the next non-holiday.
Follow the whole consecutive chain, including a festival followed by a weekend or a national holiday followed by a substitute holiday.
- Compare calendar dates.
Zero remaining days means the reference date is the displayed due date.
A negative number means that date has passed; it does not determine lawful receipt, dismissal or finality.
Filing = pronouncement / notification + 7 days → adjust final holidays
Grounds = lawful record-notice receipt + 20 days → adjust final holidays
Response = service of the other party’s grounds + 10 days → adjust final holidays
Check the schedule in five steps
- Select an appeal from a first-instance judgment, a final appeal from a second-instance judgment, or an immediate complaint against an eligible order.
Civil appeals and requests for formal trial following a summary order are separate procedures.
- Check whether a special statute or additional period for distance or overseas residence applies.
Select review required when it may apply; ordinary dates will be withheld while you consult the court.
- Enter pronouncement, actual filing if known, and the defendant’s record-notice receipt.
If only the prosecutor appeals, select that situation and use service of the other party’s grounds instead.
- Select counsel notice and court appointment history, adding only verified receipt dates.
A pending or rejected request is not treated as a fresh 20-day period.
- Read each receiving court, skipped holiday, countdown and warning.
Complete the checklist, save the assumptions as TXT or print them, and transfer eligible dates to a personal calendar using ICS.
Worked appeal and final appeal examples
Chuseok filing example: pronouncement 2026-09-17
Seven days after pronouncement gives the unadjusted endpoint 2026-09-24.
Chuseok and the following weekend move it to 2026-09-28.
With reference date 2026-09-18, the display shows 10 days remaining; this is not a seven-business-day calculation.
Appeals and final appeals share the basic seven days, but the document and court below must match the relevant stage.
Separate defendant and appointed-counsel notices
A defendant receiving the record notice on 2026-10-01 has a basic 20-day date of 2026-10-21.
If counsel is appointed on 2026-10-05 and actually receives the relevant record notice on 2026-10-06, the date based on that verified counsel notice is 2026-10-26.
Do not use 2026-10-25 by adding 20 days to appointment, or merge the two clocks into a single later universal deadline.
Hangul Day and substitute-holiday chains
A record notice received on 2026-09-19 has its 20th day on 2026-10-09.
Hangul Day and the weekend move it to 2026-10-12.
Receipt on 2026-09-13 instead gives 2026-10-03, which moves past National Foundation Day, Sunday and the substitute holiday to 2026-10-06.
These are synthetic schedules under ordinary rules and the verified 2026 calendar.
Actual notice validity, special statutes, counsel-request rejection or replacement, and individual orders still require case review.
Court-appointed counsel and grounds deadlines
Criminal Procedure Rules Article 156-2 provides for record-receipt notice after appointment of counsel in mandatory-defense and related cases.
It also addresses notice when a request made before the grounds period ends is granted, and renewed notice in specified replacement situations beyond the defendant’s responsibility.
Article 164 applies the relevant provisions to final appeals as well.
Actual notice has been received
Distinguish the appointment order date from counsel’s actual record-notice receipt.
Add a counsel-based 20-day card only when the lawful notice basis and receipt date are verified.
Without actual receipt, appointment alone creates no calculated counsel date.
Request pending, rejected or counsel replaced
Rule 156-2(4) excludes the period from a first request to service of its rejection and contains an exception for repeat requests.
Timing, whether this was the first rejection, and replacement circumstances matter.
The calculator displays only a basic reference in review states; establish the operative deadline from the case record and the court.
Retaining private counsel after the defendant’s record notice does not by itself create another 20 days.
Do not equate a retainer, consultation, court appointment or actual lawful record notice.
A request alone must not be assumed to stop the seven-day appeal filing period or guarantee an extension of the grounds period.
Delivery to a prison or detention-center warden
Article 344 addresses a defendant in prison or a detention center who delivers the appeal filing within the period to the warden or acting warden.
Qualifying delivery must be distinguished from later arrival at the court, so postal tracking alone may not establish lateness.
Articles 361-3 and 379 also apply this provision to appeal and final appeal grounds.
- The detention checkbox changes filing-method guidance, not the basic seven or 20 days.
- Verify the actual delivery date to the warden or acting warden and keep supporting evidence.
- A regular postal dispatch, delivery to a relative or a draft sent to counsel is not automatically the statutory delivery.
- Do not assume Article 344 applies identically to response documents or every other criminal filing; check the particular rule and receiving channel.
Prosecutor-only appeals and immediate complaints
Only the prosecutor appeals
The response clock uses service of a copy of the prosecutor’s grounds.
Service on 2026-10-02 gives a basic 10-day date of 2026-10-12.
Do not substitute 20 days from the defendant’s record notice.
Independently consider whether the defendant needs a separate appeal and the deadline for it.
An eligible immediate complaint
Assuming the order permits an immediate complaint, use seven days from notification.
Notification on 2026-10-02 gives 2026-10-09 before holiday adjustment and 2026-10-12 afterward.
No automatic 20-day grounds or 10-day response schedule is generated.
Read the order’s challenge instructions and any special provisions first.
How to interpret remaining days and late dates
Each card is a schedule from the entered trigger and basic rules.
A reference date different from today changes the countdown; check it after loading the example and entering a real case.
A due-today message does not mean receipt is complete: court counter hours and available electronic filing channels require separate confirmation.
If the date has passed
Restoration under Articles 345 and 346 requires review of an obstacle for which the person or representative was not responsible, when it ended, substantiation and the filing period.
The appeal must also be filed simultaneously with the restoration request.
The calculator does not decide restoration eligibility or approval from a late-day count; promptly bring the dates and records to the court or counsel.
Article 361-4 addresses exceptions relating to matters examined ex officio or grounds stated in the appeal; Article 380 addresses grounds stated in a final appeal and related dismissal rules.
A checkbox cannot establish sufficiency or an exception.
Do not use this schedule to determine sentence finality, dismissal or prospects of success.
Practical family planning and saving tips
Prepare filing after pronouncement
Before a record notice arrives, establish the appeal filing schedule from pronouncement.
Check the court below and filing channel, then prepare the case identification, signatures and required documents.
Leaving an unknown notice date blank keeps the two separate clocks clear.
Coordinate counsel and family communication
Check appointment, actual record notice, rejection and replacement history in sequence, rather than asking only whether counsel was appointed.
Saving defendant and counsel cards together helps explain missing evidence during consultation.
Update the inputs and save again when new records arrive.
TXT and printed reports preserve input dates, ordinary-rule assumptions, holidays, exception warnings and the checklist.
ICS includes only cards with confirmed calendar coverage that are not basic reference-only dates.
Calendar titles use generic document names without person or case names; check your own sharing settings and storage location.
Saving a file or completing a checklist does not submit anything to a court.
Scope and holiday-calendar limits
- Act Article 67 and Rules Article 44 address additional periods associated with distance, communications and overseas residence.
This tool does not guess distances or add those periods; choose review required to withhold ordinary calculations where they may apply.
- Exclusion following a rejected counsel request, repeat-request exceptions, replacement and lawful notice are not automatically determined.
A basic 20-day reference in those states is not the operative final deadline.
- The 2026 calendar combines the official calendar announcement, election calendar and current holiday regulation, including Labor Day, Constitution Day and substitute holidays.
Add newly designated temporary holidays and all applicable other-year dates yourself; personal leave must not be used to extend a deadline.
- Pronouncement on 2026-12-25 gives the seven-day endpoint 2027-01-01.
Adding 2027-01-01 and confirming the relevant other-year calendar moves it past the weekend to 2027-01-04; until calendar verification, the result is provisional.
- Formal-trial requests, civil/family/administrative cases, ordinary complaints, special statutes and individual orders require separate review.
Do not import the civil two-week filing period, 40-day grounds rule or one-calendar-month extension into this criminal calculation.
Frequently asked questions
Is it seven days after receiving the written judgment?
For ordinary criminal appeals and final appeals, verify pronouncement.
Postal receipt or the date a relative heard the result must not replace that trigger.
Are all weekends and holidays removed?
Intermediate holidays count.
Only an endpoint on Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday moves through the consecutive holiday chain to the next non-holiday.
Does filing the appeal also complete the grounds requirement?
Check the separate grounds period and receiving court.
The court determines sufficiency and any exception based on grounds already stated; the calculator does not establish either.
Do I add 20 days to court appointment?
Use actual lawful receipt of the relevant record notice, not appointment itself.
Rejection, replacement or other appointment history requires case review for the operative deadline.
Does retaining private counsel after notice restart 20 days?
Late private retention alone is not treated as a new period.
Distinguish the defendant’s notice from any lawful basis for counsel notice and check the case record.
For a prisoner, does arrival at court control?
Check qualifying delivery to the warden or acting warden under Article 344.
Detention adds no days, and evidence of actual delivery is needed.
If only the prosecutor appeals, do I have 20 days for grounds?
This tool instead separates a 10-day response from service of the prosecutor’s grounds.
Any independent appeal by the defendant requires separate consideration.
Can I restore appeal rights after the date has passed?
This calculator cannot decide.
Promptly review Articles 345 and 346 with the court or counsel: responsibility, when the obstacle ended, substantiation, request timing and simultaneous appeal filing.
Official sources and next steps
The National Law Information OPEN API was checked directly for current status and effective-date integrated articles on 2026-10-19.
Criminal Procedure Act ID001671/MST290189 and Rules ID005988/MST290807 use the 2026-10-02 texts.
Public-holiday regulation ID002404/MST285779 was checked with its supplementary provisions: Labor Day starts 2026-05-01 and the national-holiday amendment starts 2026-05-11.
Recheck the 7/20/10-day rules, counsel notice and rejected-request exclusions, additional periods, new holidays and actual filing channels when maintaining this tool.
Collect the evidence and prepare to file
Verify pronouncement, notification and each receipt date, calculate above, and keep proof of completed filing.
For a civil case, use the civil appeal filing deadlines calculator instead.
If assistance is needed, review the legal aid eligibility tool together with current agency instructions.