헌법재판과 헌법실현-제도와 운영의 성찰-

The Constitutional Jurisdiction is a powerful constitutional system introduced after World War II as a powerful power control system against severe human rights abuses and also abuses of power by dictatorship. In other words, the Constitutional Jurisdiction, which values and protects human dignity and rights, has made its way into the daily lives of people as a de jure standard and the last hold to realize the Constitution. It was only 1988 when Korea introduced the now effective constitutional trial system. However, the Constitutional Jurisdiction as a constitutional realization system introduced in 1988 was born with a negative legacy from the beginning. The imperfect individual appeals for protection against violation of the human right caused by the 3:3:3 appointment method of the Constitutional Court judge and the status of the Supreme Court, the imperfect constitutional review of statutes, the irregular introduction of the constitutional decision system including the imperfect ruling of the president of the Constitutional Court and the imperfection of the impeachment judgment rule are a few representative examples. Even though the Constitutional Jurisdiction was initially introduced in this incomplete form, our Constitutional Court has completed the basic framework of the Constitutional Court in a very short period of time and has become a constitutional authority most trusted by the people for 30 years in constitutional trials through many breakthrough decisions. A series of seminal decisions such as the dismissal of former President Park Geun-Hye in 2017, the impeachment of former President Roh Moo-Hyun in 2004, rejection of the capital relocation law, the decision to dissolve an unconstitutional party, innumerable decisions to achieve greater gender equality, many decisions to ensure the freedom of the body, decision to improve election system for members of parliament, decision to protect property rights, the pioneering decision on the past management of the comfort workers by Japan during World War II and decision to harmonize freedom of conscience and military service have made a great contribution to the realization of our constitutional values. Now, in order to further advance our 30-year history of the Constitutional Court trial, it is time to take bold and grand efforts to further identify areas for improvement in various court practices. These include deliberation on the decision-making formula, practice of dissenting opinions of judges, the practice of determining the unconstitutionality of statues, practicing the principle of proportionality and the test guidelines of the principles of equality. This would require a constitutional amendment and the legislative revision in question. The appropriate solution to these problems seems to be a precondition for advancing Korea into a leading constitutional state.