Attorney Noh Jong-eon | Ilgan Sports 「Noh Jong-eon Entertainment Court」 Column

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KRW 30 million in damages, nothing has changed from 20 years ago

In this column, Attorney Noh Jong-eon analyzes the ruling in the divorce and affair-related case involving the son of Hong Seo-beom and Jo Gap-kyung. He raises the question of whether the KRW 30 million in damages and monthly child support of KRW 800,000 ordered by the court properly reflect the current economic reality in South Korea and the suffering of the victim. Since adultery was decriminalized in 2015, civil damages have become the only practical sanction for family-law torts. Yet despite the decline in the value of money and soaring prices, the ceiling for family-law damages remains largely unchanged from standards set 20 years ago.

KRW 200 million in damages for death in a traffic accident, KRW 30 million for destroying a family

According to Attorney Noh Jong-eon's column, the imbalance is also striking in terms of fairness compared with other civil torts. In fatal traffic accident cases, when gross negligence with strong intent-like elements such as drunk driving is recognized, damages can rise to as much as KRW 200 million. By contrast, only about KRW 30 million is applied to the clearly malicious tort of destroying a family while knowing the person was married. The criticism is that the law's 'punitive function' is effectively paralyzed.

The distorted structure created by the right of indemnity

Even if a victim wins KRW 30 million in damages, the legal farce does not end there. Under the doctrine of quasi-joint and several liability, the paramour can seek contribution from the victim's spouse for half of the damages (KRW 15 million). If the victim decides not to divorce for the sake of the children and chooses to keep the family together, they become trapped in a distorted structure in which money leaves the couple's shared wallet and flows back to the paramour.

KRW 800,000 in monthly child support, the limits of a guideline that looks only at income

Attorney Noh Jong-eon also points out problems with the child support calculation standard. The court's child support guideline is set flatly, relying only on the parents' simple income brackets. Even health insurance premiums reflect a combination of various economic indicators such as income, assets, and vehicles, yet child support, which directly affects a child's welfare, does not reflect overall asset size.

Legal instability that swings between KRW 30 million and KRW 2 billion

Attorney Noh Jong-eon closes his column as follows. The recent ruling granting Chairwoman Roh So-young KRW 2 billion in damages was a progressive decision that showed the need for compensation proportionate to the wrongdoer's financial capacity, but at the same time, by starkly contrasting with the cases of ordinary people, it exposed the weakness of a lack of objective standards. Legal instability that swings between KRW 30 million and KRW 2 billion depending on public opinion and wealth only breeds distrust in the judiciary. It is urgent to discard the outdated calculator from 20 years ago and modernize damages by linking them to inflation and adding aggravating factors, establish precedent that restricts abuse of contribution claims, and update child support guidelines to reflect assets in a more comprehensive way.

「Noh Jong-eon Entertainment Court」 is regularly serialized in Ilgan Sports. Attorney Noh Jong-eon of Law Firm Jonjae explains legal issues in the entertainment industry based on his field experience.

 *Image source: HuffPost Korea