Inmate's 975 Lawsuits Over Chuncheon Dakgalbi and Pepero: The Outcome

"Give me the phone number of U.S. President Donald Trump." "Provide Chuncheon dakgalbi." "Provide Pepero."

These are actual administrative appeals filed by an inmate against prison wardens.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Kyoon-taek, an inmate identified as A, who is incarcerated on charges including injury resulting from confinement and the production and distribution of child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials, has repeatedly filed administrative appeals against correctional authorities since 2023.

In October 2024, A filed an appeal against the warden of Hongseong Prison, demanding the revocation of a decision stating that "the phone number of U.S. President Donald Trump does not exist."

A month later, A filed claims against the warden of Chuncheon Prison to "fulfill the obligation to provide Chuncheon dakgalbi" and against the warden of Seoul Detention Center to "fulfill the obligation to provide Pepero."

In December of the same year, A even filed a claim against the warden of Seoul Detention Center seeking the "cancellation of the resolution demanding the lifting of martial law."

All of these claims were dismissed.

The number of administrative appeals filed by inmate A alone from 2023 until last year reached a staggering 975.

Among them, 294 were voluntarily withdrawn, 170 were rejected, and 495 were dismissed.

The problem is that such administrative appeals are not limited to just inmate A.

Administrative appeals and lawsuits filed by inmates surged from 382 cases in 2022 to 610 in 2023, and 1,191 in 2024.

Last year also saw 1,060 cases filed, and as of August this year, the number reached 707.

Administrative appeals are a system designed to protect citizens' rights from unlawful or unfair dispositions by administrative agencies.

They feature the advantage of requiring no separate costs and having relatively simple procedures.

However, out of the administrative appeals filed by inmates since 2022, only 5 cases were actually cited.

Moreover, over 30% of the cases were voluntarily withdrawn by the claimants themselves.

Filing of complaints and accusations against correctional officials is also ongoing.

From 2022 to August of this year, complaints and accusations filed against correctional officials reached 3,114 cases, involving 6,331 sued officials.

Lawmaker Park Kyoon-taek pointed out that while opportunities for inmates to seek legitimate remedies for their rights must be guaranteed, it is necessary to review criteria to swiftly filter out repetitive claims that are identical or similar, as well as claims unrelated to the purpose of legal remedy, alongside measures to restrict habitual abuse.

(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Yujin | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.