Does Korea Have No-Fault Divorce?

Short answer. Korea does not have the unilateral no-fault divorce familiar from the United States and similar systems. A contested divorce has to be brought on one of the six statutory grounds in Article 840 of the Civil Act. Four of those are fault grounds, one is a status ground where the spouse has been missing for three years or more, and the sixth is a broad catch-all covering any other serious reason making it difficult to continue the marriage. That sixth ground does a great deal of work in practice, so it is inaccurate to say Korean law contains no no-fault element at all. Divorce by agreement, separately, requires no ground of any kind.

What Korean law says

Article 840: either spouse may apply to the family court for divorce where any of the following exists. First, the spouse committed an act of unchastity. Second, the spouse maliciously deserted the other. Third, the person was extremely ill-treated by the spouse or the spouse’s lineal ascendant. Fourth, the person’s own lineal ascendant was extremely ill-treated by the spouse. Fifth, the spouse’s life or death has been unknown for three years or more. Sixth, any other serious reason exists making it difficult to continue the marriage.

Article 841: the ground in subparagraph 1 cannot be relied on where the other spouse consented in advance or forgave afterwards, or once six months have passed from the day it became known, or two years from the day it occurred.

Article 842: the ground in subparagraph 6 cannot be relied on once six months have passed from the day it became known, or two years from the day it occurred.

Civil Act, Articles 840, 841 and 842. Act No. 21454, in force from 17 March 2026.

What usually happens in practice

Most contested cases are argued under subparagraph 6 rather than under a named fault, because relationships break down without anyone doing anything that fits the first five. That catch-all is where the real argument happens, and it is decided on the state of the marriage rather than on a single incident.

The limitation periods are a trap, and it matters which ground they attach to. Article 841 applies only to subparagraph 1, the ground of unchastity. Article 842 applies only to subparagraph 6, the catch-all. Each gives six months from the day the ground became known and two years from the day it arose. The other grounds, subparagraphs 2 to 5, carry no equivalent statutory period in Article 840 itself. So a person relying on adultery or on the catch-all can lose the ground by waiting, while a person relying on desertion or ill-treatment is in a different position. People who wait to see whether things improve frequently find that the specific ground they were counting on has expired, even though the situation has not.

There is one further point foreign spouses often meet. Korean courts have been reluctant to grant a divorce to the spouse mainly responsible for the breakdown, so who is seen as at fault affects not only money but whether the divorce is granted at all. That is a significant difference from a genuine no-fault system.

What you should do next

If you both agree, use the agreed route. It needs no ground and no fault.
If you are contesting, identify which subparagraph you are relying on before anything else.
If you are relying on unchastity or on the catch-all ground, diarise the six-month and two-year limits from the day you learned of it. Those two grounds are the ones that expire.
Take the question of who is responsible for the breakdown seriously. It can decide the case, not just the money.

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Written and reviewed by Soobin You, Attorney at YUSU Lawfirm. Former prosecutor. Last legal review: 12 September 2026.