What happens if divorce mediation fails in Korea?

The date you keep

Article 36(1) deems the suit brought at the time of the mediation application in three situations: where the court decides not to conduct mediation, where the case ends with mediation not established, and where a decision in lieu of mediation is met with an objection within the period.

Under Article 34(1) that objection period is two weeks from service of an authenticated copy of the record, and an objection may also be filed before service.

Article 36(2) then requires the applicant to make up the stamp duty, paying the difference between what a complaint would have cost and what was paid on the mediation application.

Family Litigation Act, Articles 49 and 61; Judicial Conciliation of Civil Disputes Act, Articles 34 and 36. Family Litigation Act No. 20432, in force from 1 January 2026; Judicial Conciliation of Civil Disputes Act No. 16910, in force from 5 March 2020.

What travels with the file

Article 61 requires the mediation chair or mediation judge to attach an opinion and send the record to the competent family court, both where the suit is deemed brought under Article 36 and where a case referred to mediation under Article 50(2) goes back to the court.

This is worth knowing before mediation rather than after. What you say and offer in mediation is not sealed off from the judge who later hears the case.

One carve-out in the borrowed rules

Article 49 applies the Judicial Conciliation of Civil Disputes Act to family mediation except where the Family Litigation Act says otherwise, and it expressly does not apply Articles 18 and 23 of that Act. Family mediation is therefore not identical to ordinary civil mediation, and the differences are in the statute rather than in practice custom.

What to do

• Treat the mediation application date as the date that matters for limitation and for the financial cut-off.
• Budget for the stamp duty difference. It falls due when the case converts.
• If a decision in lieu of mediation is served on you and you disagree, note the two week period.
• Say nothing in mediation you would not want the trial judge to read.

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

Written and reviewed by Soobin You, Attorney at YUSU Lawfirm. Former prosecutor. Last legal review: 13 September 2026.