The Korean Criminal Court consistently reject the admissibility of the result of polygraph test, even though it has been widely used in the investigating process. This standpoint, supported by a number of Academics, is based on the premise that the polygraph test does not have enough reliability or validity. The recent foreign judgements, however, show that this tendency of denouncing admissibility has been changed.
This essay aims to review these new foreign decisions and try to find a way to apply them into Korean cases. The conclusions are as follows: First, the test does not invade the constitutional right, 'Human Dignity'. For it cannot make the examiner to see the inside of the examinee directly. Second, it is admitted that the test result is legally relevant. Because the necessity and frequency of its legal use exceeds the dangerousness in admitting it in criminal procedure. Moreover, it is the right and responsibility of the judges and juries to decide the evidence (including the test result) is true or not. Third, unfortunately, the accuracy of the test is still controversial. This does not mean, however, it cannot be admitted in any case. As Daubert case shows, there can be another way to admit it with the testimony of a few experts. And this is the point that the Korean Court is to clarify in the future.