Under the Act on Summary Procedure, who may ask the court to try a case without the defendant present, and what must happen before it does so?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
For this practice exercise, the papers to read are the attendance notice for summary procedure served on the defendant or on the person served with it, the paper applying for trial in absentia, and the court's decision granting or refusing that application.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading is that the defendant, or a person served with the attendance notice for summary procedure, may apply to the court for trial in absentia, and the court may then try the case without the defendant present where it has granted that application; but where it sentences a fine or 과료, it may try the case without the defendant present even without any application or permission.
Another reading stresses that permission is the court's to give: the trial may be held in absentia at the point the court 'permits' the application, so an application alone does not entitle the applicant, and necessary matters about how the application and its permission are handled are left to the rules of the Supreme Court.
Your judgment
Where the court has granted the application, what in the file would show that the person who applied was the defendant or the person served with the attendance notice?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change who may apply or to remove the requirement of permission, or if the Supreme Court rules made under it set out the required form and steps for the application and its permission.