헌법적 시민과 시민교육을 받을 헌법적 권리 –시민교육법제화를 위한 헌법적 시론–

Through the recent candlelight revolution, the Korean people experienced an unprecedented constitutional conversation. The candlelight protests led to the impeachment of the president, marking one of the most significant events in South Korea’s political history. The series of protests will be recorded as a historical event which illuminated the remarkable patience and outstanding civic attitude of the Korean citizenry, who amid the national crisis trusted the constitutional procedures and refrained from exhibiting fury. However, the long-awaited, fully transparent constitutional conversation may find itself confined to the public gatherings themselves and may fade away with the inevitable dispersal of the protestors. The problem is that the one-time experience in the public squares does not necessarily lead one to internalize constitutionalism within oneself and thereby become a true constitutional citizen nor does it lead to the completion of a citizens’ constitution. Perhaps a new constitutional crisis situation will unfold. Therefore, legislation of civic education for the institutionalization of constitutional conversation is a most urgent task. Especially, because the Korean constitution guarantees the right to receive civic education, legislators bear the obligation to materialize the right through laws and regulations. The only problem is formulating the standard for determining the basic framework that shall be stipulated in the laws and regulations. An explicit criterion or equivalent provision in the Constitution should be decided, after a comprehensive determination of the requirements of subparagraphs 4 and 6 of article 31 of the Constitution and immanent criteria such as constitutional ideology and the historical context.