There is a regional gap of up to 4.6 times in the processing time for individual and corporate rehabilitation and bankruptcy by court.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Bal-eum = While applications for rehabilitation and bankruptcy continue due to the recession, including high inflation and high interest rates, it was found that there was a large gap between regions in the case processing period by court.

According to data submitted by the Court Administration of the Supreme Court to the office of Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 4th, the time taken from January to June of this year from the receipt of rehabilitation and bankruptcy cases to the decision to open and sentence in courts across the country varied by up to 4.6 times by region.

For personal rehabilitation, Chuncheon District Court took the shortest time from application to commencement decision at 2.9 months, followed by Suwon Rehabilitation Court at 4 months, Incheon District Court at 4.5 months, and Seoul Rehabilitation Court at 4.9 months.

On the other hand, Daegu Rehabilitation Court lasted 12 months, and Uijeongbu District Court lasted 13.2 months, exceeding one year, which was 4.6 times longer than Chuncheon District Court.

It is twice the national average (6.4 months).

Unlike the average processing period for other bankruptcy and rehabilitation procedures, which was shorter than before, the average processing period for personal rehabilitation increased from 5.8 months in 2024 to 6.4 months for both last year and the first half of this year.

For personal bankruptcy in the first half of this year, the Busan Bankruptcy Court took the shortest time from filing to sentencing at 1.8 months, while the Seoul Bankruptcy Court took 2.2 months.

On the other hand, Daejeon Rehabilitation Court took the longest at 5.1 months, which was about 2.8 times longer than Busan Rehabilitation Court.

The average personal bankruptcy processing period was shortened by more than one month from 4.4 months in 2023 to 3.1 months in the first half of this year.

Regional differences were also confirmed in corporate rehabilitation and corporate bankruptcy.

For corporate rehabilitation, the Suwon Rehabilitation Court took an average of 0.9 months and the Seoul Rehabilitation Court took 1.1 months to make a decision to commence, while the Jeju District Court took 3.7 months, about 4.1 times longer than the Suwon Rehabilitation Court.

For corporate bankruptcy, the Suwon Bankruptcy Court and the Daejeon Bankruptcy Court each took 1 month to pronounce, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court took 1.2 months, and the Jeju County Court took 4 months, a four-fold difference.

Rep. Seo Young-kyo said, “No matter where they live, debtors should be guaranteed the opportunity to quickly recover,” and added, “The National Court Administration must prepare specific improvement measures for courts with severe delays.”