Case Analysis / Legal Updates

We review together a judgment that once again underscores the importance of evidence collection. It is a judgment based on the principle of the exclusion of illegally obtained evidence, under which only evidence collected through lawful procedures is admitted in criminal justice proceedings.

A new ethical risk relating to violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act is emerging. Recently, a domestic case arose in which an attorney cited fictitious precedents created by AI in a written brief and submitted them without verification.

The AI Framework Act is scheduled to take effect on January 22, 2026. This article summarizes Korea's first comprehensive statute regulating artificial intelligence and outlines the matters that affected companies should prepare.

Through the litigation cases of AI technology companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, against which copyright infringement lawsuits have been filed, and the determinations of the German and U.S. courts, this article examines the copyright issues surrounding AI training data.

This is a case in which a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act was at issue. The court determined that using KakaoTalk conversation sentences and other data collected in the course of providing an app service for the development and training of an AI chatbot was a use that exceeded the purpose of personal information processing and that lacked a genuine consent procedure. (Seoul Eastern District Court, Decision of June 12, 2025, 2021 Gahap 104007)

In a dispute over the payment of disaster condolence money, the Supreme Court held that, where a pneumoconiosis worker had not received the condolence money corresponding to a prior disability grade and the disability grade subsequently changed, the amount later paid constitutes only partial performance of the disaster condolence money calculated under the changed disability grade. (Supreme Court, Judgment of November 6, 2025, 2022 Du 51598)

The substitute payment system for unpaid wages has been reformed. This is a review of the partial amendment to the Wage Claim Guarantee Act, which recently passed the plenary session of the National Assembly and was promulgated, examining the responsibilities of employers.

In a case in which an employer excessively shortened the contractual working hours of a taxi driver subject to the Minimum Wage Act, below the actual hours worked, in order to avoid the obligation to pay the minimum wage, the Supreme Court held that such an agreement may be void as an act in evasion of the law. (Supreme Court, Decision of November 6, 2025, 2024 Da 229794)

In a case relating to the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded the lower judgment, finding that the examination of the anticompetitive effects and intent had been insufficient. The issue in this case was whether the search algorithm of an online comparison-shopping service had relatively favored the operator's own open market. (Supreme Court, Judgment of October 16, 2025, 2023 Du 32709)

In a case involving a violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, the Supreme Court found the act of receiving virtual assets from a non-resident and paying for them in Korean won within the country to constitute conducting foreign exchange business without registration under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, and it found the defendants partially guilty. (Supreme Court, Judgment of September 4, 2025, 2025 Do 4431)

In a claim for the refund of contributions, the Supreme Court held that, although an agreement by a regional housing association to provide members with free promotional gifts without a general meeting resolution is void, the membership agreement remains valid. (Supreme Court, Decision of September 4, 2025, 2025 Da 211932)

Regarding ordinary wages, the Supreme Court held that a base bonus subject to a continued-employment condition still constitutes an ordinary wage, while finding that, among performance-based pay, only the minimum guaranteed amount unrelated to work performance is recognized as an ordinary wage. (Supreme Court, Decision of August 14, 2025, 2023 Da 216777)