A ringleader identified as A, who operated drug sales channels via social networking services such as Telegram and sold hundreds of millions of won worth of narcotics, was sentenced to five years in prison by a lower court in 2024. The day after the sentencing, A was temporarily released after his attorney filed a request to suspend detention execution, citing a family funeral, but failed to return within the set deadline. The appellate trial ultimately proceeded in A's absence last year, with the court handing down another prison sentence.
Cases like A's — where convicts sentenced to prison flee to avoid serving their terms — are increasing each year. In particular, the number of overseas fugitives, who are difficult to apprehend, has jumped nearly 50% over the past four years.
According to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday, the number of convicts with unenforced prison sentences who have fled abroad reached 1,313 last year, up 48.5% from 884 in 2021. The figure rose every year — from 928 in 2022 to 1,014 in 2023, 1,146 in 2024, and 1,313 last year.
The number of newly arising unenforced prison sentence cases has also hit record highs annually. New cases rose from 3,378 in 2021 to 3,570 in 2022, 3,810 in 2023, and surpassed the 4,000 mark for the first time with 4,036 last year. Including existing fugitives who have yet to be apprehended, the total number of convicts with unenforced prison sentences reached 6,423 last year.
Analysts point to the expansion of non-custodial trials as a key driver behind the increase. In January 2021, the National Court Administration revised the Supreme Court's "Rules on Handling Personal Custody Affairs" to limit in-court detention to cases where grounds and necessity for custody are recognized. Since then, the nationwide arrest warrant issuance rate has declined from 82.0% in 2021 to 76.9% in 2024.
The problem is that apprehending these convicts is becoming increasingly difficult as the number of overseas fugitives rises rapidly. When a defendant leaves the country, domestic investigative agencies cannot immediately compel repatriation and must go through international cooperative investigations or extradition procedures. This process requires considerable time and cost, along with essential diplomatic and judicial cooperation from the counterpart country.
A prominent example is Sun Jong-koo, former chairman of Lotte Himart, who has been at large abroad since receiving his final Supreme Court ruling. Sun, whose five-year prison sentence for breach of trust was finalized, left the country immediately after the confirmed ruling in August 2021 and is reportedly currently residing in Cambodia. The Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office requested his extradition in 2024, but Cambodia reportedly balked at the request, linking it to the issue of repatriating Cambodian anti-government figures staying in Korea.
Apprehension performance is also deteriorating. The enforcement rate for unenforced prison sentences fell from 62.0% in 2023 to 60.1% in 2024 and 58.0% last year. The number of long-term pending cases where sentences have not been enforced for three years or more also increased from 169 in 2024 to 192 last year.
Legal circles are raising concerns that the apprehension gap could widen further ahead of the planned abolition of the Prosecution Service this October. Under the current Criminal Procedure Act and Prosecutors' Office Act, prosecutors hold the authority to apprehend convicts with unenforced prison sentences. However, the Public Prosecution Office Act does not specify the status of prosecution investigators as judicial police officers, raising concerns that without supplementary legislation before the new office's launch, the legal basis for its investigators to execute warrants against such convicts could become unclear. Concerns are mounting further as the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is also considering abolishing its Criminal Intelligence Division, which has been responsible for gathering information to apprehend fugitives.
"Tracking down convicts who have fled overseas is extremely difficult because even locating their whereabouts is not easy," a prosecution official said. "If the apprehension system weakens while non-custodial trials continue to increase, we may face a situation where criminals with finalized prison sentences roam the streets without being properly caught."
