Recent Discussions on the Constitutional Law Amendment of South Korea

The current Korean Constitution is a product of the so-called “87 Regime” in the year of 1987. Since that time Korean society has undergone dramatic transformations. In international relations, steep globalization has taken place. Neo-liberalism, the driver of globalization, has caused polarization as its roots took hold in Korean society. Also Korea is changing into a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. Domestically, while undergoing rapid growths by civic organizations and vigorous activities of labor groups, a dynamic progress of democratization have occurred. In terms of the South-North Korean relation, the degrees of relaxed tensions that would have been unimaginable in the past were achieved, and exchanges between the two Koreas have become that much more active. Can such changes in the constitutional realities be withstood by the current Constitution through proper interpretations of the Constitution? Many Korean social scientists are leaning toward not. Serious discrepancies between the constitutional norms and constitutional realities have occurred. Then inevitably Koreans would have to contemplate the problems of a constitutional law amendment. The newly-amended Constitution, while accepting many societal changes that have occurred since the 87 Regime, must be able to present a new vision toward becoming a developed nation. In this paper, the new contents of the Korean Constitution that need to be included are divided into 3 categories: international relations, domestic internal relations and South-North Korean relation.