안심밴드 착용에 대한 법적 쟁점의 검토

The South Korean government has been enforcing, without going through the legislative process, the electronic wristbands system to tackle the spread of COVID-19. However, the urgent decision on implementing electronic trackers is criticized due to a lack of legal grounds. In this regard, it could be said that the precise legal issues can be solved hinged on an interpretation on the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, but this approach can also lead to a high risk on the violation of the Vagueness Doctrine. Furthermore, considering the difficulty of obtaining voluntary consent from all participants, attempts to find the legal basis for the use of electronic wristbands are unlikely to be constitutionally justified. Therefore, it is important for the National Assembly of Korea to legislate for the electronic wristbands system. Using electronic wristbands has resulted in stronger restriction on fundamental human rights compared to other monitoring measures, it is hard to deny that real-time electronic monitoring plays a big role in preventing those who are subject to self-quarantine from violating self-isolation rules. Given the urgency of COVID-19 and the public safety, it would be difficult to determine that the government lacked legal authority to compel people to wear the wristbands. Nonetheless, the introduction of the electronic system under the name of the public safety has a potential threat to civil liberties. In the future, much more researches are needed to find a point where the value of individual freedom and public safety are balanced, especially in terms of range of recipients, strengthened penalties and protection of personal information.