과거사 사건에서 소멸시효의 적용 - 헌재 2018. 8. 30. 2014헌바148 등(병합)에 대한 평석 -

At the point of the controversy was the issue of the extinctive prescription in the lawsuit filed against the state by the victims of past human rights violations. The Supreme Court ruled that the extinctive prescription shall also apply to the victims' claim for national compensation, but rejected a plea of the extinctive prescription based on the principle of good faith. Then, since 2013, the attitude of the Supreme Court has changed and the reason of this change was difficult to understand. In the end, the period of exercise of the victims' right to demand national compensation has been extremely limited, which led the Surpeme Court to overturn the existing rulings and reject the claims of the victims. The victims filed a petition to the Constitutional Court on the extinctive prescription, and the Constitutional Court decided on August 30, 2018 to confirm that part of the extinctive prescription was unconstitutional. This provided a starting point for eventual resolution of past human rights violation cases. The court and the National Assembly should respect the decision of the Constitutional Court as much as possible and interpret and apply the provisions of the law which have been abolished from the partial-unconstitutionality decision. Through this, we must find a way to salvage the victims of state power.