Consumer Dispute Adjustments Surge 3.3-Fold in 3 Years... Settlement Rate Drops 10 Percentage Points

While applications for consumer dispute mediation seeking relief from various damages have been increasing every year, the actual rate of successful settlements is declining.

According to data submitted by the Korea Consumer Agency to Representative Han Chang-min of the Social Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, the number of consumer dispute mediation applications has risen annually, from 4,118 cases in 2022 to 6,390 cases in 2023, 9,731 cases in 2024, and 13,671 cases in 2025.

The number of applications in 2025 reached 3.3 times that of 2022.

This year, a total of 8,227 cases were filed from January to September 11.

On the other hand, the proportion of successful settlements among all processed cases dropped from 40.3% in 2022 to 30.2% in 2025.

This marks a 10.1 percentage point decrease compared to 2022.

This year, the rate stood at just 26.6% based on data from January to September.

Looking at the reasons for 5,873 failed settlement cases from 2021 to September 11 of this year, business rejection accounted for the highest share at 91.7%.

Consumer rejection accounted for 7.1%, and mutual rejection by both parties stood at only 1.1%.

Between 2022 and July of this year, Naver recorded the highest number of refusals to accept dispute mediation, totaling 124 times.

Trip.com followed with 51 cases, and Korea Information and Communications (KICC) with 42 cases.

This year, Coupang rejected a mediation proposal by the Consumer Dispute Mediation Committee under the Korea Consumer Agency, which called for compensating customers affected by a personal data leak with 100,000 won per person.

Recently, Bithumb also expressed its intent to reject the Korea Consumer Agency's mediation proposal.

The Korea Consumer Agency operates the Consumer Dispute Mediation Committee to mediate disputes arising between consumers and businesses.

The purpose is to resolve issues quickly before resorting to lawsuits.

However, because both parties must accept the mediation decision, if a business refuses to accept it, the consumer ultimately has no choice but to file a civil lawsuit to obtain relief for their damages.

(Photo: Provided by Korea Consumer Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.