The appeal is dismissed.

The costs of appeal are assessed against the defendant.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. The so-called advance payment received from a contract for construction works is that the contractor pays the construction cost in advance to the contractor in order to ensure the smooth progress of the construction work without difficulties in the payment of materials security wages, etc., and is not the construction cost paid in relation to the specific work period, but the construction cost paid in relation to the whole construction work.

In light of this, if the contractor had to return the advance payment due to reasons such as the cancellation or termination of the contract after the advance payment was made, the unpaid amount of the construction cost corresponding to the advance payment by not later than the time without a separate set-off declaration, barring any special circumstances, shall be appropriated as the advance payment, and the contractor shall be liable to pay only the remainder of the construction cost, if any.

In this case, how to determine the details of the contract price for the work subject to the advance payment shall be governed by the agreement between the parties to the contract, and where the contractor directly pays wages to the workers employed by the contractor or the subcontractor directly pays the subcontract price to the subcontractor, and where the contractor concludes an exceptional adjustment agreement to exclude the amount corresponding thereto from the details of the contract price for the work subject to the advance payment, the contractor cannot be exempted from the obligation to pay the wages or the subcontract price to the workers employed by the contractor on the ground that the unpaid advance payment was appropriated for the work price for the work

(see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2012Da94278, Aug. 22, 2013; Supreme Court Decision 2013Da21437, Jan. 23, 2014). In the case of a guarantee contract for return of advance payment, the standard for the occurrence and scope of the cause for the payment of such deposit lies in the contents of the subcontract that is the subject of the relevant guarantee.