헌법재판소에 대한 국민의 민주적 통제

Nineteen years have passed since the Constitutional Court was established in Korea in 1988. Therefore, up to now, Korea has had a fair amount of history on constitutional adjudication. So far, strangely, Korean people have been indifferent to the appointment of the Justices in the Constitutional Court and it is true that the selection of the Justice has been conducted behind closed doors without the democratic control by Korean people. It was pretty different compared with the interests of Korean people and the democratic control which were shown in the appointment process of Supreme Court Justice in Korea. Constitutional Court Justice is, in a sense, more important position than that of Korean Supreme Court as we have seen in the Presidential Impeachment case and the Capital Move cases and Korean Constitutional Court is a crucial organization which can decide the destiny of Korean nation. Accordingly, it leaves no room for doubt that Korean people could and should give democratic control over Korean Constitutional Court in various and substantial ways. First of all, this study reviews the major decisions of the Court focusing on the third Korean Constitutional Court(2000-2006) and reveals the problems in them. It explores the desirable composition ways of the Court and more democratic selection criteria of the Justices in order to make it more devoted to its mission, to be a people's Court which exercises constitutional adjudication power delegated from Korean people. In addition, this paper examines a variety of institutional alternatives which can strengthen the democratic control over the Justice selection process in Korean Constitutional Court. It is sure that all these efforts are aiming at the reinforcement of democratic control over Korean Constitutional Court by Korean people which has been developed to an enormous political power in Korean society.