A Workers' Comp Denial Isn't the End -- The 90-Day Windows for Appeal and Re-Appeal, and Why Approval Rates Keep Falling
At a National Assembly audit hearing, lawmakers pointed out that while industrial accident (workers' comp) claims keep rising, approval rates are actually falling. Processing times are getting longer too, so more workers are learning that getting a denial notice isn't the end -- there's a process for contesting it. The review request and re-review request each carry a 90-day window, and in some cases you can skip straight to administrative litigation.
Workers' Comp Claims Have Risen Every Year for Five Years
The number of industrial accident claims climbed from 138,861 in 2021 to 147,637 in 2022, 159,504 in 2023, 169,823 in 2024, and 180,483 in 2025. More workers are seeking recognition for on-the-job injuries and illnesses every year.
So Why Is the Approval Rate Falling?
The problem is that approvals haven't kept pace with the rise in claims. Excluding mining, disapproval rates rose across manufacturing, construction, transportation/warehousing/communications, and other sectors. Work-related suicide claims are a stark example: claims rose 33.3% from 60 in 2019 to 80 in 2025, while the approval rate dropped 23.3 percentage points, from 58.3% to 35%, over the same period. That points to a genuinely higher bar for proving the causal link to work. For hard-to-prove categories like cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease from overwork, whether you meet the specific threshold set out in the overwork recognition criteria -- an average of 60 hours a week over the 12 weeks before onset -- is what decides approval.
Processing Times Are Also Getting Longer
The average processing time for occupational disease claims rose from 186 days in 2019 to 244.7 days in 2025 -- about 58 days longer. Noise-induced hearing loss cases are worse: processing time went from 305.2 days in 2019 to 449.5 days as of June 2026. That means waiting over a year, from filing to result. Bridging the gap in medical costs and living expenses during that stretch is a common complaint from workers going through the process.
If You Get a Denial -- File a Review Request Within 90 Days
To contest a decision by the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (KCOMWEL), you can file a review request with the relevant regional office within 90 days of the date you became aware of the decision (Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, Article 103). The filer doesn't have to be only the injured worker -- in a death case, surviving family can file too. Once filed, the agency's internal Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Review Committee re-examines the case. This stage is often where workers add materials that weren't in the original filing -- medical records, coworker statements, workplace environment measurement data. If the same file goes back up unchanged, the same result is likely, so the first move should be to pin down exactly why the claim was denied and gather materials that address that gap. The paperwork and process for the initial filing itself is covered in Workers' Comp: Your First Steps.
If the Review Request Is Also Denied -- Re-Review, Another 90 Days
If you disagree with the review decision too, you can file a re-review request with the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Re-examination Committee under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, within 90 days of receiving the review decision (Article 106 of the same Act). Because a separate body from the review committee examines the re-review, it genuinely helps to bring new evidence or an expert opinion rather than simply repeating the argument from the first denial.
You Can Also Skip Straight to Administrative Litigation
Workers' comp cases fall under optional administrative-appeal precedence -- meaning you don't have to exhaust the review and re-review process before filing an administrative lawsuit. You can go straight to administrative court from the start. When proving the work connection is complicated and unlikely to be reversed through the agency's internal process, some claimants skip the time-consuming review and re-review stages and go directly to litigation. Administrative litigation is still subject to the same 90-day window from the date you became aware of the decision, so whichever path you choose, the deadline math is the same. If the statute-of-limitations question itself is the issue -- as with an occupational disease discovered well after retirement -- check the 3-year standard covered in Filing for an Occupational Disease After You've Left the Job.
Checklist
① When you receive a denial notice, check the date first -- every appeal deadline runs 90 days from the date you became aware of the decision. ② If you think the agency's internal process could realistically reverse the outcome, start with a review request; if the causation dispute is complex, consider going straight to re-review or litigation. ③ At the review stage, add medical records, coworker statements, or workplace measurement data that weren't in the original filing. ④ Because a different body examines the re-review than the review, bring new evidence rather than repeating the same argument. ⑤ Since processing can take close to a year, plan separately for the medical-cost and income gap in the meantime. The actual odds of approval and the right procedure depend on the specific diagnosis and workplace circumstances, so check with KCOMWEL or a certified labor attorney (gongin nomusa) for guidance specific to your case.
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