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PUNISHMENT OF MINOR OFFENSES ACT

Wholly Amended by Act No. 11401, Mar. 21, 2012

Amended by Act No. 11778, May 22, 2013

Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014

Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016

Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017

Act No. 14908, Oct. 24, 2017

CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS
 Article 1 (Purpose)
The purpose of this Act is to protect the freedom and rights of citizens and to contribute to maintaining good order by providing for matters necessary for categorizing and punishing minor offenses.
 Article 2 (Prohibition against Abuse)
In applying this Act, close attention shall be paid to prevent unlawful infringement on the rights of citizens, and this Act shall not apply for any purpose beyond the original purpose of this Act.
CHAPTER II CATEGORIES AND PUNISHMENT OF MINOR OFFENSES
 Article 3 (Categories of Minor Offenses)
(1) Any of the following persons shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand won, by misdemeanor imprisonment, or by a minor fine: <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017; Act No. 14908, Oct. 24, 2017>
1. (Breaking into Empty Houses, etc.) Any person who breaks into an uninhabited or abandoned house, or breaches a fence thereof, or enters a structure, ship or car, without good cause;
2. (Carrying Concealed Weapons) Any person who carries a concealed tool or implement, such as a knife, steel rod, or hacksaw which may be used to inflict a serious injury on human life or body or to break into a house or other structures, without good cause;
3. (Preparation for Violence, etc.) Any person who engages in preparatory conduct in a plan to inflict a physical injury on another person, or the person who has planned to inflict such injury;
4. Deleted; <by Act No. 11778, May 22, 2013>
5. (Change, etc. of Scenes of Dead Bodies) Any person who conceals a stillborn baby or tampers with the scene where a dead body or stillborn baby is found, without good cause;
6. (Failure to Report Persons in Need of Support) Any person who has knowledge of a senior citizen, child, person with a disability, injured person, or sick person in need of support or a dead body or stillborn baby at a place under his/her management, but fails to report such to any relevant public official without delay;
7. (False Assumption, etc. of Official Titles) Any person who falsely assumes any domestic or foreign public office, rank, decoration, and academic degree, or any name, title, etc. prescribed by any statute, or uses any uniform, medal, badge, commemorative medal, or other emblems prescribed by statutes or others similar thereto without being entitled to do so;
8. (Inertia Selling of Goods and Solicitation) Any person who forces any third person to purchase unrequested goods, any person who demands money in return for any unrequested service or skill he/she has provided, or any person who solicits customers noisily with the intent of running his/her business at a place where many people gather or frequent;
9. (Unauthorized Posting, etc. of Advertising Materials) Any person who posts, hangs, or inserts advertising materials, etc. on, in or into, or writes, paints, or engraves on a house or other artificial structure, car, etc. of any third person or organization without the consent of the person or organization, any person who removes, defaces, or damages signboards or other markings or artificial structures of any third person or organization without the consent of the person or organization, or any person who scatters advertising materials, etc. at public places without permission;
10. (Interference with Use of Potable Water) Any person who contaminates potable water or interferes with the use thereof;
11. (Littering, etc.) Any person who recklessly litters cigarette butts, gum, wastepaper, wastes, dead animal, or other dirty or useless things at any place;
12. (Urination, etc. on Streets) Any person who spits or relieves nature on streets, in parks or at other places where many people gather or frequent or makes another person do so, or fails to remove excrement of any animal, such as a dog he/she takes to such places;
13. (Interference with Ceremonies) Any person who interferes with any event or ceremony held by a public institution or other organization or individual by any malicious or mischievous conduct, etc., or any person who enters the venue of any event or ceremony carrying with him/her anything highly likely to interfere with the event or ceremony, despite a warning by the person who hosts the event or ceremony or other relevant persons;
14. (Forcing to Join Organizations) Any person who repeatedly forces another person to join an organization in spite of his/her refusal to do so;
15. (Damaging Nature) Any person who recklessly damages nature by plucking or digging up any plants, flowers, stones, etc., or carving letters on rocks, trees, etc., in parks, scenic spots, pleasure resorts, green zones, etc.;
16. (Unauthorized Handling of Another Persons' Livestock, Machinery, etc.) Any person who recklessly casts loose cattle, horse, or other animals or any moored boat, raft, etc. of another person or organization, or recklessly handles machinery, including a motor vehicle;
17. (Obstructing Flow of Waterways) Any person who engage in any conduct obstructing the flow of a streamlet, ditch, or other waterways;
18. (Begging, etc.) Any person who make unjust enrichment by forcing another person to beg, or any person who interferes with or bothers passing of other persons by begging at a public place;
19. (Creation of Insecurity) Any person who makes another person uneasy, annoyed, or offended by standing in the way, provoking a quarrel, gathering around, following the person, or uttering or doing highly rough and menacing words or conducts, without good cause, or any person who creates disgust by intentionally exposing fearful tattoos at a public place used or frequented by many people, such as a road and a park;
20. (Drinking, Disturbance, etc.) Any person who, while drunk, behaves in a riotous or disorderly manner by uttering or doing rough words or conducts, at a place where many people gather or frequent, such as a public hall, a theater, and a restaurant, or on a train, a motor vehicle, a ship carrying many people;
21. (Disturbance, etc. to Neighbors) Any person who disturbs neighbors by excessively increasing the volume of any musical instrument, radio, television, electric gramophone, bell, loudspeaker, electrical motor, etc., or by talking or singing loudly;
22. (Lighting of Fires) Any person who lights a fire near any dry matter, bush, or other inflammable substances, or use a fire near gasoline or other things which easily catch fire, without due care;
23. (Throwing Things and Other Dangerous Conducts) Any person who throws, pours, or shoots anything at a place in danger of harming another persons' body, or anything of another person or organization, without due care;
24. (Negligent Management of Artificial Structures, etc.) Any person who is likely to place many people in danger due to his/her negligence in taking necessary measures despite a relevant public official’s' request to repair artificial structures or other things which are likely to collapse, tumble, or fall;
25. (Negligent Management of Dangerous Animals) Any person who sets loose a dog or other animals having a habit of harming people or livestock, or makes such dog or animals wander around by unleashing them or neglecting to watch them properly;
26. (Violence Using Animals, etc.) Any person who frightens cattle or horses to run away, or makes a dog or other animals attack any person or livestock;
27. (Turning off Lights without Permission) Any person who, without permission, turns off a light at any place in which many people frequent or gather or a light used as a sign by any third person or organization;
28. (Negligent Safety Control in Public Thoroughfares) Any person who fails to turn on a light or neglects to take other preventive measures at any place frequented by many people, in spite of his/her duty to prevent any dangerous accident;
29. (Noncompliance with Public Officials' Requests for Assistance) Any person, while present at the site, who fails to comply with any direction of a relevant public official or his/her assistant in respect of access to the site of a disaster caused by snow, rain, wind, tidal wave, earthquake, etc., a fire, a traffic accident, a crime, and other emergencies, or refuses the public official’s request for assistance, without good cause;
30. (Misrepresentation of Personal Information) Any person who embarks on a ships or plane by misrepresenting his/her name, resident registration number, basic place of register, address, occupation, etc., or falsely assuming the personal information of another person to be his/her personal information, without good cause, when asked by any public official authorized to ask personal information, following due process;
31. (Superstitious Therapy) Any person who misleads people by advertising any novel and marvelous prescription without any ground, or claiming to diagnose, treat, or prevent illness using other superstitious methods;
32. (Violation of Curfew) Any person who violates a curfew imposed by the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency or the Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard in the event of a war, an emergency, or a natural disaster or if any other social crisis is likely to happen;
33. (Obscene Exposure) Any person who embarrasses or offends other people by excessively exposing his/her genital, buttock or any other intimate part of his/her body in public places;
34. (Noncompliance with Requests for Fingerprinting) Any person who refuses to give his/her fingerprint without good cause, when a police official or public prosecutor intends to take his/her fingerprint because it is impossible to identify a suspect by any means other than fingerprinting;
35. (Extortion Payments) Any person who receives or demands money in return for a promise to get or getting a seat or parking place at any facility or at places open to the general public or who follows annoyingly any third person to receive money;
36. (Cutting in Queues) Any person who disturbing an orderly queue formed to get on a car or to embark on a ship, to enter a place or buy tickets, by cutting in such queue or pushing other persons aside at a public place;
37. (Trespass) Any person who enters any off-limit area, facility, or place without good cause;
38. (Mischievous Handling of Firearms, etc.) Any person who handles or engages in any mischievous conduct with firearms, explosives, or other things which pose a danger of explosion without due care at a place in which many people gather or frequent;
39. (Fare Evasion and Defrauding Restaurants) Any person who evades a fare onboard a passenger car or ship or fails to pay a bill after having food or drinks sold by any third person, without good cause;
40. (Prank Calls, etc.) Any person who repeatedly annoys any third person by making phone calls or sending text messages, letters, electronic mails, electronic documents, etc., without good cause;
41. (Consistent Harassment) Any person who requests to meet or date by consistently attempting approaches any third person or watches, follows, or secretly waits for any third person against the explicit will of the person.
(2) Any of the following persons shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand won, by misdemeanor imprisonment, or by a minor fine:
1. (Unlawful Publication, etc.) Any person who receives money or things in return for a promise to publish or not to publish certain matters concerning the business or privacy of any third person or organization in a newspaper, magazine, or other publications in an attempt to make unjust enrichment;
2. (False Advertisement) Any person who deceives or advertises misleading facts while selling or distributing goods to many persons or doing any work for such persons;
3. (Interference with Business) Any person who interferes with the business of any third person, organization, or person on official duty with misdeeds;
4. (Ticket-Scalping) Any person who resells admission tickets, passenger tickets, or boarding tickets at a premium at any entertainment place, stadium, station, ferry, stop, or other places where persons are charged for a fixed fare for admission or boarding.
(3) Any of the following persons shall be punished by a fine not exceeding six hundred thousand won, by misdemeanor imprisonment, or by a minor fine: <Amended by Act No. 11778, May 22, 2013>
1. (Drunkenness and Disturbance at Public Offices) A person, while drunk, who behaves in a riotous or disorderly manner by uttering or doing rough words or conducts, at a public office;
2. (False Report) A person who files a false report with public officials on a crime or disaster that has not actually happened.
<Paragraph (1) 33 of this Article was amended by Act No. 14908 promulgated on Oct. 24, 2017, following the decision of unconstitutionality made by the Constitutional Court on Nov. 24, 2016>
 Article 4 (Abetting or Aiding)
Any person who abets or aids any third person to commit any offense provided in Article 3, shall be punished in the same manner as actual offenders are punished.
 Article 5 (Exemption from, and Concurrent Imposition of, Punishments)
In punishing an offender pursuant to Article 3, the offender may be exempt from punishment or may be concurrently sentenced to misdemeanor imprisonment and a minor fine, in consideration of the extenuating circumstances.
CHAPTER III SPECIAL CASES CONCERNING PUNISHMENT OF MINOR OFFENSES
 Article 6 (Definitions)
(1) The term "offense" in this Chapter means any violation that constitutes any subparagraph of Article 3 (1) and (2), and the detailed scope thereof shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree.
(2) The term "offender" in this Chapter means any person who commits an offense, except for the following persons:
1. Any person who habitually commits an offense;
2. Any person to whom the punishment of misdemeanor imprisonment is deemed appropriate in consideration of the motive, means, and consequence of the relevant crime;
3. Any person who engages in a conduct involving victims;
4. Any person under 18 years of age.
(3) The term "penalty" means money to be paid by an offender to the National Treasury or to the treasury of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province according to notification given under Article 7.
 Article 7 (Dispositions of Notification)
(1) The chief of a police station or coast guard station, the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor, or the chief of the Railroad Police may impose a penalty on any person recognized as an offender in writing specifying the grounds therefor and may give notification to the relevant person to pay the penalty: Provided, That the same shall not apply to any of the following persons: <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>
1. Any person who refuses to receive a written notification;
2. Any person whose residence or identity is uncertain;
3. Other persons to whom it is impractical to give notification.
(2) The amount of a penalty to be notified under paragraph (1) shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree, in consideration of the category of the relevant offense.
(3) When the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor or the chief of the Railroad Police gives notification pursuant to paragraph (1), he/she shall notify the chief of the relevant police station, of such fact.
 Article 8 (Payment of Penalties)
(1) Any person in receipt of a written notification given under Article 7 shall pay a penalty to the bank designated by the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, the Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard or the chief of the Railroad Police or a branch or agent office thereof; to a post office; or to the financial institution designated by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor or a branch thereof; within ten days after receipt of such written notification: Provided, That when he/she is unable to pay the penalty within such period due to any natural disaster or inevitable cause, he/she shall pay the penalty within five days from the date such inevitable cause ceases. <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>
(2) Any person who fails to pay a penalty by the payment deadline provided in paragraph (1), shall pay the penalty notified plus an amount equivalent to 20/100 of such penalty within 20 days from the date after expiration of the payment deadline.
(3) No person who has paid a penalty pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be re-punished for the relevant offense.
 Article 8-2 (Payment of Penalties)
(1) The payment of penalty may be made with a credit card, debit card, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “credit card, etc.”), other than by the payment methods under Article 8, through a penalty-payment service provider prescribed by Presidential Decree. In such cases, “penalty-payment service provider” means an institution designated as an agency for penalty-payment service, as prescribed by Presidential Decree, which processes payments made with a credit card, etc. through information and communications network.
(2) Where the payment of penalty is made with a credit card, etc. under paragraph (1), the date on which a penalty-payment service provider approves such payment shall be deemed the payment date.
(3) A penalty-payment service provider may receive a service fee for payment of penalty from a payer, in return for providing its service for the payment of an administrative fine by means of a credit card, etc., as prescribed by Presidential Decree.
(4) Necessary matters for the designation and operation of penalty-payment service providers and the fees for such payment service shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree.
[This Article Newly Inserted by Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016]
 Article 9 (Treatment of Persons, etc. Failing to Comply with Dispositions of Notification)
(1) The chiefs of police stations and coast guard stations and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor shall request a summary trial without delay with respect to any of the following persons: Provided, That the same shall not apply to those who have paid the penalty notified plus an amount equivalent to 50/100 of such penalty before a summary trial is requested: <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>
1. Any person who falls under any subparagraph of Article 7 (1);
2. Any person who fails to pay a penalty by the payment deadline provided in Article 8 (2).
(2) When a defendant with respect to whom a summary trial has been requested pursuant to paragraph (1) 2 pays the penalty notified plus an amount equivalent to 50/100 of such penalty and submits the relevant evidentiary documents before a sentence is pronounced in the summary trial, the chief of the relevant police station, the chief of the relevant coast guard station, and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor shall cancel his/her request for a summary trial for such defendant. <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>
(3) No person who has paid a penalty pursuant to the proviso to paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) shall be re-punished for the relevant offense.
(4) If any person falls under any subparagraph of paragraph (1), the chief of the Railroad Police shall immediately notify the chief of the relevant police station or the relevant coast guard station, of such fact, and forward relevant documents. In such cases, the chief of the relevant police station or the relevant coast guard station so notified shall handle it pursuant to paragraphs (1) through (3). <Amended by Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014; Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016; Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>
ADDENDA
Article 1 (Enforcement Date)
This Act shall enter into force one year after date of its promulgation.
Article 2 (Transitional Measures concerning Application of Penalty Provisions)
The previous provisions shall prevail over the application of penalty provisions to any offense committed before this Act enters into force.
Article 3 Omitted.
ADDENDUM <Act No. 11778, May 22, 2013>
This Act shall enter into force on the date of its promulgation.
ADDENDA <Act No. 12844, Nov. 19, 2014>
Article 1 (Enforcement Date)
This Act shall enter into force on the date of its promulgation. (Proviso Omitted.)
Articles 2 through 7 Omitted.
ADDENDA <Act No. 13813, Jan. 22, 2016>
Article 1 (Enforcement Date)
This Act shall enter into force six months after the date of its promulgation: Provided, That the amended provisions of Article 9 shall enter into force on January 25, 2016.
Article 2 (Transitional Measures concerning Request for Summary Trial for Persons Who Fail to Comply with Dispositions of Notification)
Notwithstanding the amended provisions of Article 9, the previous provisions shall apply, where the chief of the relevant police station requests a summary trial upon receipt of the notification from the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor that the person is subject to a summary trial before this Act enters into force.
ADDENDA <Act No. 14839, Jul. 26, 2017>
Article 1 (Enforcement Date)
This Act shall enter into force on the date of its promulgation: Provided, That among the Acts amended pursuant to Article 5 of the Addenda, amendments to an Act, which was promulgated before this Act enters into force but the date on which it enters into force has yet to arrive, shall enter into force on the enforcement date of the relevant Act.
Articles 2 through 6 Omitted.
ADDENDUM <Act No. 14908, Oct. 24, 2017>
This Act shall enter into force on the date of its promulgation.