Government Documents
Right to Information Act 2009 (Republic of Korea)
South Korea’s public-records disclosure statute and the constitutional case law that shaped access to information held by state bodies.
What the Act does
The Right to Information Act is the public-records half of Korean transparency law. It creates a general right of access to information held by public institutions, and it is a request-and-decision regime rather than a publication regime: nothing is disclosed automatically, and a refusal is a decision that can be challenged.
That structure is the point. A statute that said only that records are open would tell a requester nothing about what happens when an institution says no. This one fixes the timeline and names the appeal.
The refusal grounds
Article 9 is the part that determines what is actually obtainable. It enumerates the grounds on which access may be refused, and it includes national security, defence and diplomacy, ongoing investigation, personal privacy, and the commercial or financial interests of a third party.
The grounds are expressed broadly enough that they are frequently the whole practical outcome of a request. A reader should therefore treat any published disclosure rate as a statement about how often the grounds are applied, not only about how often records exist.
The security carve-out
The Access to Information Act for National Security Matters sits alongside the general Act and governs information held by the state bodies connected to national security. It has its own disclosure determination procedure and its own standards of review. This is a structurally different regime, not a special case inside the general one.
Sources
- Right to Information Act — the general statute. Article numbers above refer to this translation.
- Access to Information Act for National Security Matters — the parallel regime.
- Information Commission Korea — the appeal body for the general Act.
Claim labels
FACT
Article 3 establishes the right of any person to request access to information held by public institutions, subject to the limitations in Article 9 and the exemptions in Articles 14 to 22.
FACT
Article 9 enumerates the grounds on which a public institution may refuse a request, including matters of national security, defence, diplomacy, investigation, personal privacy, and the commercial or financial interests of a third party.
FACT
Article 13 requires a public institution to make a decision on a request within twenty days, extendable in defined cases.
FACT
Article 18 provides for a request for reconsideration to the head of the public institution, and Article 19 provides for administrative appeal to the Information Commission.
FACT
The Access to Information Act for National Security Matters provides a separate regime for information held by state bodies connected to national security, with its own disclosure determinations.
Sources
Last link check: 2026-09-29. A link check confirms reachability, not that every claim has been independently reviewed.
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