South 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...
View ArticleSouth Korea: People Who Report Unleashed Dogs to Be Rewarded
(Mar. 23, 2018) Facing a significant rise in the number of dog-attack incidents in South Korea, the National Assembly recently amended the Animal Protection Act (Act No. 4379, May 31, 1991, Korean...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Coffee Banned in Schools
(Mar. 23, 2018) On March 13, 2018, an amendment to the Special Act on Safety Management of Children’s Dietary Lifestyle was promulgated by the President of South Korea. (Special Act on Safety...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Efforts to Eradicate Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence in...
(May 3, 2018) On March 30, 2018, the South Korean Prime Minister, Lee Nak-yon, issued the Rules for Establishment and Operation of the Comprehensive Government Inspection Team for Promoting Eradication...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Labor Standards Law Amended to Limit Workweek
(May 18, 2018) On March 20, 2018, the President of South Korea promulgated an amendment to the country’s 1997 Labor Standards Act. The amendment had been passed by the National Assembly on February 27,...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Supreme Court Finds Conscientious Objection to Military Service...
(Nov. 16, 2018) On November 1, 2018, the Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that conscientious objection to military service is “justifiable” under article 88(1) of the Military Service Act. (Sup. Ct.,...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Amendment Act Expands Parental Leave
(Oct. 18, 2019) In an effort to boost the fertility rate by providing support to pregnant and child-rearing workers, South Korea’s National Assembly passed an act in August 2019 that amends the Equal...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Parliament Responded Quickly to COVID-19 by Amending Three Acts
(June 4, 2020) South Korea was one of the first countries outside of China to identify persons who had been infected with COVID-19. By the beginning of March 2020, the epidemics in South Korea, Iran,...
View ArticleSouth Korea: New Digital Signature Act to Take Effect in December 2020
(Aug. 28, 2020) South Korea’s new Digital Signature Act was published in the Gwanbo (Official Gazette) on June 9, 2020. (Act No. 17354, June 9, 2020, Gwanbo No. 19768, pp. 147–57.) Most of the...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Government Orders Striking Doctors-in-Training to Return to Work
(Sept. 24, 2020) On August 26, 2020, five days after thousands of doctors in South Korea launched a nationwide strike, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) ordered striking doctors-in-training in...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Mask Rule Violators May Be Punished by Fines
(Dec. 7, 2020) People in South Korea have been required to wear face masks on mass transportation and at demonstrations, among other places, since October 13, 2020, when the penal provisions of an...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Amended Law Criminalizes Sending Leaflets to North Korea by Balloon
(Jan. 19, 2021) On December 14, 2020, the South Korean National Assembly passed a bill to amend the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act (Act No. 7763, Dec. 29, 2005). The amendment, Act No....
View ArticleSouth Korea: Abortion Decriminalized since January 1, 2021
(Mar. 18, 2021) Abortion became decriminalized in South Korea effective January 1, 2021, when the provisions of Act No. 293, the Criminal Act, that criminalized abortion became invalid. (Criminal Act,...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Amended Telecommunications Business Act Will Ban App Payment...
On August 31, 2021, the South Korean National Assembly amended the Telecommunications Business Act in order to bar app market operators from forcing certain payment systems on mobile app development...
View ArticleSouth Korea: Video Cameras to Be Installed in Operating Rooms
On August 31, 2021, the National Assembly of Korea passed a bill to amend the Medical Service Act. The amendment aims to protect patients against medical negligence or malpractice. The Amendment Act...
View ArticleSouth Korea: District Court Orders North Korea to Compensate Veterans of...
On August 23, 2022, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in case 2020 Gadan No. 5256869 (on file with author) that North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-un — the defendants in the case — should each...
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