Separate the parole minimum date from the fine balance
A family planning for someone in custody may need to answer two questions: when the minimum statutory period is reached, and how much of a concurrent fine remains payable.
This calculator separates those questions so a spouse, parent or adult child can prepare a budget and a residence or livelihood plan.
A statutory minimum date is not an approved review date, a parole permission date or a guaranteed release date.
Korea-based rules verified for 2026
Criminal Act Article 72 uses one third of a fixed term or 20 years of life imprisonment as minimum periods.
Good conduct, clear repentance and a separate discretionary decision still matter.
Prison conduct, health, living conditions and reoffending risk are considered in review.
This page does not predict approval probabilities or apply another jurisdiction’s parole system.
Functions and supported cases
- Estimate a fixed-term minimum date using calendar years and months and officially allocated pretrial custody.
- Calculate 20 calendar years of life-sentence execution while showing that there is no fixed sentence end.
- Separate cash payments from amounts legally deemed paid toward a concurrent fine or minor fine.
- Compare a savings gap, contributions and a conditional parole period based on a user-assumed release date.
The supported scope is adult civilian custody under one uninterrupted sentence.
Juvenile rules, military custody, execution of multiple sentences, interrupted execution, commutation and pardon require separate assessment.
If execution was interrupted, a single start date cannot represent the complete custody history; obtain the official sentence calculation instead.
Meaning of sentence and pretrial-custody inputs
Execution start and sentence length
Article 84 starts the sentence from the final judgment date but excludes days without custody.
A judgment becoming final while the person is not detained does not establish uninterrupted execution from that date.
Use the prison-confirmed start and enter fixed-term years and additional months.
The 600-month maximum is a software input limit, not an additional statutory parole condition.
Days officially allocated to the fixed term
Do not add every day spent in custody without checking its allocation.
Enter only pre-judgment custody days actually credited to the fixed term.
Under Article 73(1), those days count toward the executed period for parole.
This tool does not apply that fixed-term credit formula to life imprisonment; commutation and special credits need official review.
How minimum and sentence-end dates are estimated
The method uses calendar years and months under Article 83 and counts the first execution day as a whole day under Article 85.
A year is not automatically 365 days, so leap days affect the full term.
If the corresponding anniversary day does not exist, this tool includes the last day of that target month.
Full term T = calendar days from execution start to the exclusive end after the sentence years and months
Fixed-term minimum days = ceil(T / 3)
Minimum date estimate = execution start + max(0, minimum days − credited fixed-term custody days)
Sentence end estimate = exclusive calendar end − credited fixed-term custody days − 1 day
The minimum date is conservatively shown as the day after the required inclusive days have been completed; the completion day is displayed separately.
If official custody credit already covers the minimum, the execution start is shown instead of a date before execution.
Boundary calculations may differ from the official record, so this estimate must not be treated as a scheduled review.
Article 86 addresses release on sentence completion, but other sentences or detention grounds may still prevent release.
Concurrent fine payoff and deemed payment
Article 72(2) requires full payment of a concurrently imposed fine or minor fine.
Article 73(2) treats the amount corresponding to pre-judgment custody officially allocated to fine detention as paid.
The input is not the number of days actually worked in fine detention, and the daily conversion must come from the judgment.
Avoid deducting the same credit twice
Deemed paid = officially allocated pretrial fine-detention days × judgment conversion amount per day
Payoff needed = max(0, concurrent fine − cash already paid − deemed paid)
If the prosecution office has already deducted the credit in a reported balance, entering that balance as the original fine and deducting the same credit again understates the amount payable.
Reconcile the original fine, actual cash payments, allocated days and conversion amount on one consistent basis.
If payments plus deemed payment exceed the fine, the tool holds the result rather than suggesting a refund.
Different cases or fines with different conversion amounts need separate reconciliation.
Steps and household savings plan
- Check execution records: obtain the confirmed start, sentence years and months, and custody credited to the fixed term.
- Check fine records: confirm the original fine, cash payments, fine-detention custody allocation and judgment conversion.
- Enter savings assumptions: distinguish cash currently set aside from cash already paid to the prosecution office.
- Compare optional assumptions: enter your own served percentage or an assumed release date.
- Confirm with the authorities: save a TXT report or print the result to organize questions for the prison and prosecution office.
The savings gap is the payoff minus available cash, floored at zero.
Per-contribution savings divide that gap by your chosen number of contributions and round up to a whole KRW.
If contributions are monthly, the count can represent months, but the tool does not authorize payment dates.
The example planning target, one day before the minimum date, is not a statutory fine-payment deadline or installment permission.
A target already in the past is not permission to pay retrospectively.
Fictional example: three years, 120 credited days and KRW 10 million
Date calculation
A three-year fixed term starting on 2026-01-01 spans 1,096 calendar days.
The rounded-up one-third minimum is 366 days; deducting 120 officially credited pretrial days leaves 246 additional days.
The required-days completion date is 2026-09-03, the minimum-date estimate is 2026-09-04, and the sentence-end estimate is 2028-09-02.
Fine and savings calculation
With a KRW 10,000,000 concurrent fine, no cash payments, KRW 100,000 conversion per day and 30 officially allocated fine-detention days, the deemed-paid amount is KRW 3,000,000.
The payoff needed is KRW 7,000,000.
KRW 1,000,000 already set aside leaves a KRW 6,000,000 gap, or KRW 1,000,000 per contribution over six contributions.
These are fictional explanatory inputs, not an approved allocation or installment arrangement.
The 120 fixed-term days and 30 fine-detention days are assumed to be separately and officially allocated.
Do not independently allocate the same custody day to both calculations.
Served-percentage scenarios, parole and probation
A user-entered percentage multiplies full calendar days, rounds up, subtracts credited fixed-term custody and produces a comparison boundary date.
It is not an official approval rate, average release point or forecast.
A 25% assumption triggers a below-minimum warning, and the 100% boundary is the day after sentence completion, not the release date.
A period is calculated only from an assumed release date
Under Article 73-2, parole lasts 10 years for life imprisonment; for a fixed term, it is the remaining sentence subject to a 10-year cap.
Even if a 30-year sentence has 20 years remaining, the parole period is capped at 10 years.
For a 2036-01-01 assumed release with that cap, this tool displays 2045-12-31 as the last day.
Probation normally applies during parole, but the permitting authority may recognize that it is unnecessary; consult the actual order.
Actual review and practical next steps
Corrections Act Article 121 governs the prison warden’s request for eligibility review and the committee’s overall assessment.
Enforcement Rule Article 245 requires consideration of prison conduct, repentance and reoffending risk, with a classification-treatment committee resolution when selecting candidates who have passed the minimum period.
A family, prisoner or lawyer does not directly file a parole application that automatically starts a review.
- Ask the prosecution enforcement office to confirm the final fine balance and payment processing.
- Ask the prison about start and end dates, custody allocation and eligibility-review procedure.
- Prepare the proposed residence, livelihood or work plan and victim-recovery documentation.
The five-day rule in Article 122 concerns the committee requesting ministerial permission after an eligibility decision.
It does not mean that release occurs five days after this calculator’s minimum date.
Rely on official prison guidance when someone asks for money in exchange for a promised parole outcome.
Frequently asked questions
Does serving one third guarantee parole?
No.
Conduct, reoffending risk, other review factors and permission still matter.
The minimum date is not an approval date.
Should I enter the arrest date as the execution start?
No.
Use the officially confirmed sentence start and enter allocated pretrial custody separately.
Can pretrial days be deducted from a life sentence here?
This tool does not apply the fixed-term credit formula to life imprisonment.
It uses 20 calendar years of execution; commutation and special cases require official review.
Do collection orders or settlement payments count as the fine?
No.
This payoff concerns concurrent fines and minor fines under Article 72(2).
Other monetary obligations need separate assessment.
Should I enter days actually served in fine detention?
The field concerns pre-judgment custody officially allocated to fine detention.
Confirm actual service or other-case settlements with the prosecution office.
Do six savings contributions authorize six monthly installments?
No.
They are household planning assumptions.
Payment deadlines, deferral and installment permission require separate confirmation.
Are probation and release dates final?
No.
The period depends on a user-assumed release date.
The permission and probation orders take precedence.
What happens after a new offense during parole?
Article 74 provides that parole loses effect when a sentence of imprisonment or heavier for an intentional offense during parole becomes final.
Obtain legal advice about individual cases.
Verified law and update basis
Sources were checked on 2026-10-30; the Criminal Act, Corrections Act and relevant rule versions used here took effect on 2026-10-02.
Current status and individual articles were checked directly through the National Law Information OPEN API.
Entering historical or future dates still applies the 2026 model and does not establish the law applicable to that date.
Recheck the calculation when the law or custody allocation changes.
Official sentence records, credited-day allocations, fine balances and review procedures take precedence over this planning estimate.
The output is not an official sentence calculation or legal opinion.
Review fine funding and release preparation together
Checking the amount and period separately helps avoid overstating a family funding need or treating the minimum date as confirmed release.
Editing an input hides the earlier result; calculate again using confirmed figures and use the TXT or printout to organize official inquiries.
No names or case numbers are requested, and form inputs and calculated results are not sent to a server or saved persistently.
For unpaid-fine detention comparisons, use the fine detention conversion calculator.
For record-lapse dates after execution, consult the separate criminal record expungement calculator.