Minor
Overview
A minor (未成年者) refers to a person who has not reached the age of majority. Article 4 of the Civil Act of the Republic of Korea provides that a person reaches majority at 19 years of age; therefore, in principle, a person under 19 years of age is a minor. Minors have limited capacity in legal acts such as contracts and litigation, and with respect to criminal responsibility, separate protective and reformative procedures apply according to age standards; at the same time, they are subject to protection and regulation under various statutes.
Key Details
Legal Definition and Age Standards
The concept of a minor is not uniform. Under civil law, a minor is a person under 19 years of age, but under the Youth Protection Act, a youth is defined as a person under 19 years of age, excluding a person who has reached January 1 of the year in which he or she turns 19. Under the Child Welfare Act, a child is a person under 18 years of age; under the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse, a child or juvenile is a person under 19 years of age; and under the Labor Standards Act, a young worker is a person under 18 years of age. In other words, even for the same act, the age threshold varies depending on which statute applies.
Capacity to Act and Contracts under Civil Law
Article 5 of the Civil Act requires a minor to obtain the consent of his or her legal representative when performing a legal act, and allows an act performed without such consent to be revoked. However, consent is not required for an act by which the minor obtains only rights or is relieved only of obligations. Property whose disposition the legal representative has permitted may be disposed of by the minor at will (Article 6), and where the minor has been permitted to carry on a business, acts concerning that business are also valid within a certain scope (Article 8). Where a minor obtains consent by deceiving the legal representative through artifice, the right to revoke is restricted. The marriage age was amended in the direction of unification at 18 years of age, from the previous 18 for men and 16 for women, and the provision deeming a minor who marries to be an adult was discussed together.
Criminal Responsibility and Juvenile Protection
Article 9 of the Criminal Act provides that the act of a person under 14 years of age shall not be punished. The Juvenile Act defines a juvenile as a person aged 10 or older and under 19, and applies protective measures instead of punishment to law-breaking juveniles and predelinquent juveniles who have not reached the age of criminal responsibility (14). Unlike ordinary criminal procedures, juvenile cases emphasize the ideal of protection, and various measures such as indeterminate sentences, probation, and community service or lecture attendance are used. In recent years, however, tension has grown between demands for stronger punishment of violent crimes and the ideal of protection.
Labor and Education
The Labor Standards Act generally prohibits the employment of persons under 15 years of age as workers, while providing exceptions where certain requirements are met. Workers under 18 years of age may not work more than 7 hours per day or 35 hours per week, night and holiday work is restricted, and special procedures such as a consent form from a person with parental authority or a guardian are required. In education, compulsory education under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is accompanied by protective measures linked to school dropout, abuse, and child labor.
Protection in Online and Digital Environments
The Personal Information Protection Act requires consent from a legal representative when processing the personal information of a child under 14 years of age, and the Youth Protection Act regulates the distribution of media harmful to youth. In the gaming sector, the shutdown system, which restricted excessive game use by youth, was abolished on January 1, 2022, and was replaced by a game time selection system under which guardians directly set usage hours. In addition, practical procedures such as opening accounts or mobile phone subscriptions in a minor's name, financial transactions, and identity verification are designed around the consent of a legal representative.
Recent Trends
The biggest change in 2024–2025 is that online-based sexual exploitation crimes, especially the problem of deepfake false videos, have emerged as a central agenda in the protection of minors. As numerous victimization cases came to light in 2024, the relevant ministries announced comprehensive measures that include stronger punishment for the production and distribution of false videos, support for prompt deletion, and expanded counseling and legal support for affected youth, and sentencing and investigative practices related to child and juvenile sexual exploitation materials are also being strengthened.
Youth gambling has also become a major target of joint government crackdowns and preventive measures since 2024. Efforts are being carried out in parallel, including blocking youth access to illegal gambling sites, expanding reporting and counseling channels for illegal cyber gambling, and suspending payments on linked accounts.
Discussions on institutional reform are also continuing. A proposal to lower the age threshold for law-breaking juveniles and amendments to the Juvenile Act continue to be discussed in the National Assembly, and discussions are under way on amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act aimed at easing and reorganizing the requirement for legal representative consent in processing personal information of children under 14. Strengthening platform responsibility to improve the effectiveness of age verification systems, and regulating youth exposure to short-form content and algorithms have also emerged as major issues in line with European regulatory trends. At the same time, discussions on how far to recognize minors' right to self-determination in everyday areas such as consent to medical treatment, inheritance and guardianship, and subscription to financial products are continuing in both case law and legislation.
Related Topics
- [[Civil Act]]
- [[Juvenile Act]]
- [[Youth Protection Act]]
- [[Age of Majority]]
- [[Child Welfare Act]]
- [[Legal Representative]]