With more than 100 cases filed just a week after the introduction of the appeal to the Constitutional Court, the court could release preliminary screening results as early as this week. Depending on the screening, the court will decide which cases to review on the merits and which to filter out without looking into them at all.
According to legal sources on the 22nd, a designated panel of three Constitutional Court justices plans to hold a deliberation early this week to decide whether to refer some appeal cases to a merits panel or dismiss them. The designated panel typically meets on Tuesdays.
An official at the court said, "A decision by the designated panel on the appeal is expected early this week."
Once a case is filed, the designated panel at the court determines whether it meets legal requirements, and if the petition is improper, it is dismissed without a hearing on the merits. Under the Constitutional Court Act, if there is no dismissal within 30 days after filing, it is deemed referred for adjudication.
If other legal remedies exist but the petitioner files a constitutional complaint without exhausting them, the case is subject to dismissal. It means a constitutional complaint should be filed only after trying everything that can be done.
If the filing period under the Constitutional Court Act has passed, if the petition for adjudication was filed without appointing a representative, or if it is clear that the claim does not fall under any grounds for filing, it is also deemed not to meet the requirements of legality.
The first appeal case was filed by Mohamed, 42, a Syrian national, seeking to overturn a deportation order. After fleeing civil war, he stayed in Korea for about 11 years, was detained following a 2024 deportation order, and was then deported.
To avoid deportation, he filed an administrative suit to cancel the order, but it was dismissed at the trial and appellate levels last year and finalized at the Supreme Court in Jan. He argues that the final ruling violated constitutional rights including dignity and value, the right to pursue happiness, personal liberty, and freedom of residence and transfer.
However, an appeal to the court must be filed within 30 days of the date the judgment becomes final, and because about two months had already passed when this case was filed, it may be dismissed at the preliminary screening stage for failing to meet legal requirements.
The second case was filed by the family of the late Kim Dal-su, a fisherman abducted to the North who returned via the East Sea, seeking to overturn a court ruling that rejected their claim for government compensation over a delay in criminal compensation.
Criminal compensation is a system in which the government compensates a defendant whose acquittal has been finalized for damages from detention or trial. The court must decide on compensation within six months after receiving the petition.
When the criminal compensation decision was delayed for more than a year, the family sought government compensation for the delay, but the trial and appellate courts ruled against the plaintiff, finding that the six-month period for criminal compensation is merely a directory provision.
However, because this is a small-claims case and appeals are legally limited, the appellate ruling became final on the 20th of last month.
In addition, Jang Young-ha, the People Power Party's Seongnam-si Sujeong District chapter head whose conviction for spreading false information about President Lee Jae-myung was finalized, and YouTuber Gujeok (real name Lee June-hee), whose prison sentence for extorting tens of millions of won from YouTuber Tzuyang was finalized, also filed appeals.
In legal circles, many say preliminary screening is important to prevent a surge of cases due to the new appeal system.
At a briefing before the rollout, the court itself said it expects 10,000 to 15,000 cases per year. However, it expects many to be dismissed at the preliminary screening stage.
Attorney Kim Jin-han, a former constitutional researcher, emphasized a rigorous design for the preliminary screening system at an internal briefing on the appeal and screening system hosted on the 20th by the Constitutional Practice Research Society (chaired by Justice Jeong Jeong-mi), saying, "If we set off down the wrong path now, it could end up driving the court over a cliff."