Simple theft is a crime under Article 329 of the Criminal Act committed by stealing another person's property. There are various specific types of theft: theft by night entry, under Article 330, is committed by entering at night a residence or guarded house, building or vessel and stealing another's property.

Aggravated theft falls under Article 331 and covers entering a residence or guarded house, building or vessel at night after breaking a door, wall or other part of a building. It also covers stealing another's property while carrying a dangerous weapon or jointly with two or more people. A dangerous weapon here means a tool made to kill or injure people or to damage property. Unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, under Article 331-2, is committed by temporarily using another person's car, vessel, aircraft or motorized bicycle without the owner's consent. However, it does not apply where there was no time to obtain consent in advance and approval was obtained after the temporary use.

Habitual offenders who repeatedly commit crimes under Article 329 or 331-2 receive heavier punishment, and the special rule for crimes between relatives is also among the types of theft. This rule, known as chinjok sangdorye, means that certain crimes between relatives are either exempt from punishment or can be prosecuted only upon a complaint by the relative. For theft between close relatives, punishment is exempted, and there are many domestic cases of these various types of theft. Theft by night entry, such as breaking into an inhabited but empty house to steal, keeps occurring even though widespread CCTV has some deterrent effect.

Looking briefly at Korean court decisions on theft, one case held that the victim's possession of their belongings continues after death, so taking items the victim carried at the scene of the killing with intent to appropriate them infringed the victim's possession and was theft. A Supreme Court decision of December 9, 1969 held that a resident registration card is property and can be the object of theft, and another held that breaking into an orchard storehouse at night to steal was theft by night entry even though no one lived there. Notably, one case held that a soldier who took another unit's rifle to replace one he had lost was not guilty of theft because he lacked the intent to appropriate it, while another held that taking a book after pretending to read it in front of its owner was theft because the book was still in the owner's possession. With this in mind, I will look at how theft is investigated, including investigation methods, criminal psychology and prevention, and then apply them to a concrete case.

First, because theft occurs mainly in daily life, clues can be obtained when the victim reports it.

To add: on June 27, 2024 the Constitutional Court held that Article 328(1) of the Criminal Act, which uniformly exempted from punishment property crimes between lineal blood relatives, spouses, relatives living together and others, violated victims' right to make statements at trial, and issued a decision of nonconformity suspending its application (2020Hun-Ma468 and others). A Criminal Act amendment passed by the National Assembly in December 2025 made property crimes between relatives offenses that can be prosecuted only upon the victim's complaint. The paper's statement that punishment is exempted between close relatives therefore no longer reflects current law. The protected interest in theft is generally seen as ownership, though some scholars hold that possession is also protected, and the paper's vehicle registration figures are as of the time of writing.