세대갈등의 배경과 법적함의 : 68세대부터 코로나 세대에 이르기까지

The recent presidential election in Korea gave rise undoubtedly to the generational conflicts, along with gender conflicts. In fact, those issues tend to revolve around national elections in many parts of the world. Thus one might say they are now universal issues witnessed anywhere. Nevertheless in view of the unique Korean political election culture these issues have been amplified as targets of sensitive confrontation. It is true that even 30 years ago, generation conflict was an issue rather lower than labor-management or regional ones. In ensuing years social awareness and policy expectation have developed into a major area of public concern. Consequently the theme of generational conflict seems nowadays to be rapidly intensifying. Therefore a new term “Boomer Remover” came into being in the midst of the pandemic. It clearly shows how serious the generational conflict is at this point in Korea. In particular, recent media reports define Korea as a conflict republic, projecting generational inequality in particular. The present paper accordingly purports to deal with the backgrounds of the generational conflict in Korea, with a view to investigating the difference from the neighboring countries. Attempts were made further to cope with the trend of generational conflict, coupled with observations on the legal implications, largely derived from the 1968 revolutions of the West. It is to be sure that 1968 events form a prototype of the kind for the generational conflicts. Following a half century the world is now engulfed by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Of course, the ‘68 revolution could hardly be the same as today's generation conflict because it was then a cultural revolution that reversed outdated social customs with resistance to the established politics and authoritarianism. Notwithstanding the enormous ramifications, new era led by the ’68 generation is still affecting Europe, the United States, let alone Asia, amid the Pandemic.