South Korea: International Adoption Rates Fall
(Nov. 29, 2011) While the number of intercountry adoptions throughout the world sharply declined last year, the number of children adopted from South Korea remained the same. As a result, South Korea...
View ArticleIndonesia; South Korea: Agreement on River Restoration
(Dec. 4, 2012) On December 3, 2012, Indonesia and South Korea concluded an agreement to restore the Ciliwung River, which flows from the mountains down through Jakarta before reaching Jakarta Bay. The...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Ban on Dumping of Food Wastewater in the Ocean Comes into Force
(Feb. 7, 2013) The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) of the Republic of Korea promulgated the revised enforcement rule for the Marine Environment Management Act on December 29,...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Unprecedented Claim Filed with Constitutional Court to Dissolve...
(Dec. 23, 2013) On November 5, 2013, the Korean government filed a claim with the country’s Constitutional Court to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party (UPP). At the same time, the government...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Kopino Family Wins Paternity Suit for First Time
(June 26, 2014) The Seoul Family Court decided in June 2014, in a landmark filiation case, that the plaintiffs, two Kopino boys, were the children of a Korean man. “Kopino” is a word that describes a...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Suit Against Government for Forced Prostitution after 1957
(July 9, 2014) On June 25, 2014, 122 women sued the Korean government, claiming that they were forced to engage in sexual intercourse for money for members of the United States military who were...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Tobacco Tax Hike
(Feb. 3, 2015) The price of a typical 20-count pack of cigarettes in Korea went up from KRW2,500 to KRW4,500 (about US$2.30 to $4.15) on January 1, 2015. (Joo-won Chung, Tobacco Price Hike Begets Fresh...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Criminal Provision on Adultery Held Unconstitutional
(Mar. 24, 2015) South Korea’s Constitutional Court has struck down the provision that defined the crime of adultery in the Criminal Act, ending a decades-long controversy. (2009 Hun-Ba 17, Con. Ct.,...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Controversial Anti-Corruption Law Promulgated
(Apr. 16, 2015) On March 26, 2015, President Park Geun-hye of South Korea promulgated the Anti-Corruption Law (Act No. 13278 (Mar. 27, 2015), Korea Ministry of Government Legislation website (in...
View ArticleChina; South Korea: Landmark Free Trade Agreement Signed
(June 11, 2015) On June 1, 2015, China and South Korea signed a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). (Brittany Felder, China, South Korea Sign Free Trade Agreement, PAPER CHASE (June 2, 2015).) The...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Supreme Court Keeps Unfaithful Spouses from Being Able to File...
(Oct. 13, 2015) On September 15, 2015, the Supreme Court of Korea upheld the precedent that a court may not grant a divorce when the petitioner is the spouse responsible for the breakdown of the...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Refugee Resettlement Program
(Jan. 4, 2016) The first refugees to be handled under South Korea’s new resettlement program arrived in Korea on December 23, 2015. South Korea’s Refugee Act became effective in July 2013. (The Refugee...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Constitutional Court Decides Long-Running Case on Compensation...
(Jan. 6, 2016) A lawsuit called “the longest unresolved case” in Korea, which took the country’s Constitutional Court six years to deliberate, was finally settled in December 2015. (2009 Heonba 317...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Controversial Court Decision on Academic Freedom
(Jan. 15, 2016) The Seoul Eastern District Court, on January 13, 2016, ruled in favor of plaintiffs who filed a defamation suit against Park Yu-ha, a professor of Seoul’s Sejong University. Park...
View ArticleSouth Korea: First Court Order to Return Children to Another Country Under...
(Feb. 23, 2016) On February 15, 2016, the Seoul Family Court ordered a Korean father to return his two children to his wife in Japan. (Hyun-jeong Lee, Court Orders Korean Dad to Return Children to...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Five-Year Mental Health Plan Aimed at Reducing Suicides Adopted
(Mar. 9, 2016) The Korean government adopted a five-year plan of comprehensive measures on mental illness, covering the years 2016-2021. The plan promotes early detection of mental illness and...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Constitutional Court Rejects Petition on Corruption Law
(Sept. 14, 2016) The Act on the Prohibition of Unjust Solicitation and Giving and Receiving of Money, Goods, etc. (Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, Act No. 13278) was promulgated in South Korea on...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Scandal Raises Questions About the Future of the President
(Nov. 23, 2016) On November 20, 2016, South Korean prosecutors indicted Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of President Park Geun-hye, on charges of abuse of power, coercion, attempted coercion, and...
View ArticleSouth Korea: President May Be Impeached
(Dec. 2, 2016) An impeachment motion against South Korean President Park Geun-hye has now been delayed and it is not certain whether it will be brought against her in, and passed by, the National...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Pilot Program Started for the Well-Dying Law
(Nov. 8, 2017) On October 23, 2017, a pilot program for the Hospice, Palliative Care, and Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act, known as the “Well-Dying Law,” was implemented. (Act No. 14013...
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