헌법수호자로서의 김병로 - 보안법 파동 및 경향신문 폐간에 대한 비평을 중심으로 -

Kim Pyong Ro was the first Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Korea. After he retired from the incumbent justice, he confronted President Rhee’s dictatorship. When the Rhee government made worse the National Security Act, he criticized in a series of contributions to the newspaper that it aimed at curbing the freedom of speech and democracy. His approach was more similar to constitutional review and critical legal reasoning. He often used legal terms like democracy, constitutional rights, and justified the right of resistance. When the Rhee government blocked the Kyunghyang Shinmun which was famous for its antigovernment newspaper articles, Kim criticized such a measure was to blind people’s eyes and to close people’s ears. During the peak years of Rhee’s dictatorship, Kim’s articles and interviews encouraged the struggle against dictatorship. He could be called as ‘a defender of constitutionalism’ or ‘a legal professional for democracy.’