Korean Law in English
Laws › Criminal Act › CHAPTER I LIMIT OF APPLICABILITY OF CRIMINAL CODE

Criminal Act — Article 1 (Criminality and Punishability of Acts)

형법 제1조

This English translation is based on the Korean text effective 2023-08-08. The Korean law has since been amended (current version effective 2026-10-02) — check the Korean original.

(1) The criminality and punishability of an act shall be governed by a statute in effect at the time of the commission of that act.

(2) Where a statute is changed after the commission of a crime, and the relevant act thereby no longer constitutes a crime under the new statute or the punishment therefor under the new statute becomes less heavy than under the previous one; the new statute shall apply.

(3) Where a statute is changed after the sentence for a crime has become final and conclusive and the relevant act thereby no longer constitutes a crime, the execution of the punishment shall be remitted.[This Article Wholly Amended on Dec. 8, 2020]

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Korean original (law.go.kr) · Get articles as JSON via API

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