When you are reported for stalking

The duration and how to challenge it differ depending on whether the document you received right after the report is a police emergency measure (긴급응급조치) or a court provisional measure (잠정조치). Check in the order below.

• Write down the name of the document, the decision date and the date you were notified. An appeal against a provisional measure must be filed within 7 days of notice.
• Check the scope of what is prohibited. For a ban on approaching, check who is covered (the person, people living with them, family) and where (home, workplace); for a ban on contact, check whether calls, texts, messenger apps and social media are all included.
• Do not delete any messages exchanged with the other person; back them all up. Records of the other person contacting you first also matter.
• If there are shared belongings, money matters or children involved, do not contact them directly; list these issues instead.

The most common mistake is getting in touch to explain because you feel wronged. Apology texts, offering to return belongings, asking a friend to pass on a message, messages from a new number or another account, and comments or reactions on the other person's social media can all be treated as prohibited contact.

Do not reply even if the other person contacts you first. If you run into them by chance, do not speak to them and leave right away; noting the time, place and why you were there helps later in explaining that it was not deliberate.

The police interview the victim and analyse the contact records, then question the suspect, and if they find grounds, they refer the case to a prosecutor. The prosecutor decides whether to indict and, if needed, asks the police for supplementary investigation.

Among provisional measures, bans on approach and contact cannot exceed 3 months, but can be extended twice by 3 months each. If the prosecutor decides not to indict, the provisional measure lapses. If the decision contains errors of fact or circumstances have changed, you can apply to the court to cancel or change it.

A stalking offense is committed when someone continuously or repeatedly contacts or approaches another person against their will and without a justifiable reason, causing them anxiety. The number and period of contacts, when you learned they did not want contact, whether you had a reason to get in touch, and whether what you said was threatening are each examined.

Courts look not so much at whether the other person actually felt anxious as at whether the conduct was objectively likely to cause anxiety. So materials showing the full flow of the conversation are more persuasive than claiming "the other person was fine with it."

Stalking offenses can be punished even if the victim does not want punishment, but a settlement weighs heavily in a suspension of indictment (기소유예) or the sentence. If approach and contact are banned, you must not convey your wish to settle directly either; you need to go through a lawyer. If you have started counselling or a treatment programme on your own, submit those records as well.

If found guilty, you may be ordered, along with the sentence, to complete a course of up to 200 hours or a stalking treatment programme. Counselling records from beforehand serve as evidence that the risk of reoffending is low, and it also helps to set out steps you have taken to avoid running into the person again, such as deleting their contact details or moving.

At the consultation, we read the scope of the decision with you and separate what you must comply with from what can be disputed. We judge within the deadline whether an appeal or an application to cancel or change it is needed, practise likely questions before questioning and attend with you. We also submit a defense counsel's written opinion organising the contact records. If you want to settle, Jisan Law handles contact with the victim's side on your behalf so you do not breach the ban on approach and contact. If you have received a decision, contact us through the chat on this page.