Book contents
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Rights in Action
- Part I Rights in Historical Perspective
- Part II Institutional Mechanisms for Rights Claiming
- 4 A Clash of Claims
- 5 Advancing Human Rights, Advancing a Nation
- 6 The Constitutional Court as a Facilitator of Fundamental Rights Claiming in South Korea, 1988–2018
- 7 Rights Claiming through the Courts
- 8 Public Interest Lawyering in South Korea
- Part III Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
- Part IV Shaping Rights for New Citizens and Noncitizens
- Conclusion Findings and Future Directions
- Index
- References
7 - Rights Claiming through the Courts
Changing Legal Opportunity Structures in South Korea
from Part II - Institutional Mechanisms for Rights Claiming
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2021
Book contents
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Rights in Action
- Part I Rights in Historical Perspective
- Part II Institutional Mechanisms for Rights Claiming
- 4 A Clash of Claims
- 5 Advancing Human Rights, Advancing a Nation
- 6 The Constitutional Court as a Facilitator of Fundamental Rights Claiming in South Korea, 1988–2018
- 7 Rights Claiming through the Courts
- 8 Public Interest Lawyering in South Korea
- Part III Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
- Part IV Shaping Rights for New Citizens and Noncitizens
- Conclusion Findings and Future Directions
- Index
- References
Summary
Examining changes in the legal rules and procedures that render the courts more or less attractive for rights-claiming helps answer a core question: To what extent and how has civil litigation become an institutional mechanism for rights-claiming in South Korea? The concept of legal opportunity structures pinpoints the relatively stable but not static rules and statutes related to access to the courts, adjudication procedures, and judicial remedies that affect whether individuals and groups will use private litigation to try to enforce rights. This chapter’s analysis indicates that Koreans have benefited from a liberalizing structure of legal opportunities and improved potential for rights protection via the courts in the past two decades. I illustrate how claimants and lawyers are recognizing and using legal opportunities, and sometimes even prying open new opportunities, in pursuit of rights.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Rights Claiming in South Korea , pp. 151 - 171Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Andersen, Ellen Ann. 2006. Out of the Closets and into the Courts: Legal Opportunity Structure and Gay Rights Litigation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Arrington, Celeste L. 2014. “Leprosy, Legal Mobilization, and the Public Sphere in Japan and South Korea.” Law & Society Review 48 (3): 563–93.Google Scholar
Arrington, Celeste L. 2019. “Hiding in Plain Sight: Pseudonymity and Participation in Legal Mobilization.” Comparative Political Studies 52 (2): 310–41.Google Scholar
Arrington, Celeste L. 2021. “Legal Mobilization and the Transformation of State-Society Relations in South Korea in the Realm of Disability Policy.” In Civil Society and the State in Democratic East Asia, edited by Chiavacci, David, Grano, Simona, and Obinger, Julia, 297–323. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Baik, Kang-Jin. 2015. “Civil Disputes in Korea and the New Role of the Court.” In The Functional Transformation of Courts: Taiwan and Korea in Comparison, edited by Yeh, Jiunn-rong, 215–38. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Barnes, Jeb, and Burke, Thomas F.. 2015. How Policy Shapes Politics: Rights, Courts, Litigation, and the Struggle over Injury Compensation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beomnyul Sinmun. 2013. “Gihoek sosongui munjejeom, haru ppalli gaeseonhaeya” [The issues with strategic litigation, must be resolved soon]. August 21, 2013. www.lawtimes.co.kr/Legal-Opinion/Legal-Opinion-View?serial=77790.Google Scholar
Burke, Thomas F. 2000. “The Rights Revolution Continues: Why New Rights Are Born (and Old Rights Rarely Die) Symposium.” Connecticut Law Review 33: 1259–74.Google Scholar
Cain, Bruce E., Dalton, Russell J., and Scarrow, Susan E., eds. 2003. Democracy Transformed?: Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Choi, Dai-Kwon, and Rokumoto, Kahei, eds. 2007. Korea and Japan: Judicial System Transformation in the Globalizing World. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.Google Scholar
Cichowski, Rachel A. 2006. “Introduction: Courts, Democracy, and Governance.” Comparative Political Studies 39 (1): 3–21.Google Scholar
Cichowski, Rachel A. 2016. “The European Court of Human Rights, Amicus Curiae, and Violence against Women.” Law & Society Review 50 (4): 890–919.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 2014. “Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of the Republic of Korea.” CRPD/C/KOR/CO/1. UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.Google Scholar
Cortner, Richard C. 1968. “Strategies and Tactics of Litigants in Constitutional Cases.” Journal of Public Law 17: 287–307.Google Scholar
Dodd, Lynda G., ed. 2018. The Rights Revolution Revisited: Institutional Perspectives on the Private Enforcement of Civil Rights in the US. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Epp, Charles R. 1998. The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Evans Case, Rhonda, and Givens, Terri E.. 2010. “Re-Engineering Legal Opportunity Structures in the European Union? The Starting Line Group and the Politics of the Racial Equality Directive.” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 48 (2): 221–41.Google Scholar
Farhang, Sean. 2010. The Litigation State: Public Regulation and Private Lawsuits in the U.S. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fon, Vincy, and Parisi, Francesco. 2006. “Judicial Precedents in Civil Law Systems: A Dynamic Analysis.” International Review of Law and Economics 26 (4): 519–35.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom. 2001. “Dismantling the Developmental State-Administrative Procedure Reform in Japan and Korea.” American Journal of Comparative Law 49: 585–626.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom. 2002. “Confucian Constitutionalism? The Emergence of Constitutional Review in Korea and Taiwan.” Law & Social Inquiry 27 (4): 763–99.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom. 2003. Judicial Review in New Democracies: Constitutional Courts in Asian Cases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom, and Matsudaira, Tokujin. 2012. “The Judicialization of Japanese Politics?” In The Judicialization of Politics in Asia, edited by Dressel, Björn, 17–36. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Leslie Friedman. 2004. “From Democracy to Juristocracy.” Law & Society Review 38 (3): 611–29.Google Scholar
González-Ocantos, Ezequiel A. 2016. Shifting Legal Visions: Judicial Change and Human Rights Trials in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and You, Jong-Sung. 2015. “Freedom of Expression in South Korea.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 45 (1): 167–79.Google Scholar
Hahm, Pyong-choon. 1986. Korean Jurisprudence, Politics, and Culture. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.Google Scholar
Haley, John O. 1978. “The Myth of the Reluctant Litigant.” Journal of Japanese Studies 4 (2): 359–90.Google Scholar
Haley, John O. 2002. “Litigation in Japan: A New Look at Old Problems.” Willamette Journal of International Law and Dispute Resolution 10: 121–42.Google Scholar
Heo, Jae-hyun. 2016. “In the Place Where They Underwent Forced Surgeries, Hansen’s Patients Testify.” Hankyeoreh, June 21, 2016. http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/749110.html.Google Scholar
Hilson, Chris. 2002. “New Social Movements: The Role of Legal Opportunity.” Journal of European Public Policy 9 (2): 238–55.Google Scholar
Hirschl, Ran. 2004. Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hirschl, Ran. 2011. “The Judicialization of Politics.” In The Oxford Handbook of Political Science, edited by Goodin, Robert E., 253–74. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hong, Joon Seok. 2011. “From the Streets to the Courts: PSPD’s Legal Strategy and the Institutionalization of Social Movements.” In South Korean Social Movements, edited by Shin, Gi-Wook and Chang, Paul Y., 96–116. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Im, Sanggyu. 2012. “Gongsosihyo jedoui munjejeomgwa gaeseonbangan” [Issues with the statute of limitations and directions for reform]. Beophak Noncheong 32 (2): 295–315.Google Scholar
Javeline, Debra, and Baird, Vanessa. 2007. “Who Sues Government?: Evidence from the Moscow Theater Hostage Case.” Comparative Political Studies 40 (7): 858–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jo, He-rim. 2018. “Judges Call for Prosecutorial Probe over Ex-Supreme Court Chief.” Korea Herald, June 3, 2018. www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180603000237.Google Scholar
Kagan, Robert A. 2001. Adversarial Legalism: The American Way of Law. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kage, Rieko. 2017. Who Judges?: Designing Jury Systems in Japan, East Asia, and Europe. Cambridge UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kang, Jin-kyu. 2018. “Moon Asks Court to ‘Self-Reform’.” JoongAng Daily, September 14, 2018. http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3053178.Google Scholar
Kawashima, Takeyoshi. 1967. Nihonjin No Hō Ishiki [The legal consciousness of the Japanese]. Tokyo: Iwanami.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret E., and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Keck, Thomas M. 2009. “Beyond Backlash: Assessing the Impact of Judicial Decisions on LGBT Rights.” Law & Society Review 43 (1): 151–86.Google Scholar
Kelemen, R. Daniel. 2006. “Suing for Europe: Adversarial Legalism and European Governance.” Comparative Political Studies 39 (1): 101–27.Google Scholar
Kim, Dohyun, and Hwang, Seung Heum. 2007. “Career Patterns of the Korean Legal Profession.” In Judicial System Transformation in the Globalizing World: Korea and Japan, edited by Choi, Dai-Kwon and Rokumoto, Kahei, 139–81. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Duol, and Min, Heechul. 2017. “Appeal Rate and Caseload: Evidence from Civil Litigation in Korea.” European Journal of Law and Economics 44: 339–60.Google Scholar
Kim, Jongcheol. 2008. “Government Reform, Judicialization, and the Development of Public Law in the Republic of Korea.” In Administrative Law and Governance in Asia: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Ginsburg, Tom and Chen, A., 129–54. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kim, Jongcheol, and Park, Jonghyun. 2012. “Causes and Conditions of Sustainable Judicialization of Politics in Korea.” In The Judicialization of Politics in Asia, edited by Dressel, Björn, 37–55. Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kim, Joongi. 2009. “The Judiciary’s Role in Good Governance in Korea.” In Transforming Asian Governance: Rethinking Assumptions, Challenging Practices, edited by Ramesh, M. and Fritzen, Scott, 135–53. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kim, Marie Seong-Hak. 2012. Law and Custom in Korea: Comparative Legal History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Rahn. 2011. “Compensation Claim Period Limitless for Inhumane State Crimes.” Korea Times, September 8, 2011. www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/12/113_94525.html.Google Scholar
Kim, Tae-ho, and Kim, Jeong-hwan. 2016. Gongik sosong jedoeui hyeonhwanggwa gaeseonbangan [The status quo and future directions of public interest litigation policy]. Seoul: Judicial Policy and Research Institute.Google Scholar
Kwak, Jung-soo. 2016. “Why Have Korean Victims of Humidifier Disinfectant Not Received Compensation?” Hankyoreh, May 11, 2016. http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/743377.html.Google Scholar
Kwak, Jung-soo 2017. “New System Would Seek Threefold Compensation from Companies That Make Harmful Products.” Hankyoreh, January 6, 2017. http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_business/777672.html.Google Scholar
Kwon, Youngjoon. 2007. “Litigating in Korea: A General Overview of the Korean Civil Procedure.” Journal of Korean Law 7: 109–44.Google Scholar
Kwon, Youngjoon 2010. “Litigating in Korea: A General Overview of Korean Civil Procedure.” In Litigation in Korea, edited by Cho, Kuk, 1–30. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Lee, Chulwoo. 1998. “Talking about Korean Legal Culture: A Critical Review of the Discursive Production of Legal Culture in Korea.” Korea Journal 38 (3): 45–76.Google Scholar
Lee, Jinkyoo. 2014. “Effectiveness of Pretrial Disposition Reform: Interactions between Judicial Efficiency and Access to Justice.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Seattle: University of Washington.Google Scholar
Lee, Kyung-min. 2018a. “Last Batch of Bar Exam Trainees Enter Training Center.” Korea Times, March 2, 2018. www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/03/356_245018.html.Google Scholar
Lee, Kyung-min 2018b. “Constitutional Court Cannot Review Supreme Court Rulings.” Korea Times, August 30, 2018. www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/08/251_254783.html.Google Scholar
Lee, Sun Goo. 2016. “Proving Causation with Epidemiological Evidence in Tobacco Lawsuits.” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 49 (2): 80–96.Google Scholar
Lee, Young-Dae. 2003. “Great Expectations: The Past, Present & (and) Future of Product Liability Laws in Korea Practitioner’s Corner.” Journal of Korean Law 3 (1): 171–80.Google Scholar
Lehoucq, Emilio, and Taylor, Whitney. 2020. “Conceptualizing Legal Mobilization: How Should We Understand the Deployment of Legal Strategies?” Law & Social Inquiry 45(1): 166–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lejeune, Aude. 2017. “Legal Mobilization within the Bureaucracy: Disability Rights and the Implementation of Antidiscrimination Law in Sweden.” Law & Policy 39 (3): 237–58.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug, Tarrow, Sidney, and Tilly, Charles, eds. 2001. Dynamics of Contention. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
MOIS. 2016. “Jeongbogonggae yeonchabogoseo” [Annual report on information disclosure]. Seoul: Ministry of the Interior and Safety. www.open.go.kr/.Google Scholar
Ock, Hyun-ju. 2016. “Hansen’s Patients Testify at On-Site Court Hearing.” Korea Herald, June 20, 2016. www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160620000936.Google Scholar
Park, Ahran, and Youm, Kyu Ho. 2017. “Judicial Communication in South Korea: Moving toward a More Open System?” In Justices and Journalists: The Global Perspective, edited by Davis, Richard and Taras, David, 184–208. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ramseyer, J. Mark. 1985. “The Costs of the Consensual Myth: Antitrust Enforcement and Institutional Barriers to Litigation in Japan.” The Yale Law Journal 94 (3): 604–45.Google Scholar
Scheppele, Kim Lane, and Walker, Jack. 1991. “The Litigation Strategies of Interest Groups.” In Mobilizing Interest Groups in America, edited by Walker, Jack, 335–72. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Simmons, Beth A. 2009. Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Son, Hyeon-su. 2016. “Byeonhosa 10myeong jung 9myeong, ‘jingbeoljeok sonhaebaesang jedo doip chanseong’” [9 in 10 lawyers support punitive damages system]. Law Times, June 15, 2016. www.lawtimes.co.kr/Legal-News/Legal-News-View?Serial=101154&kind=AE.Google Scholar
Staszak, Sarah. 2015. No Day in Court: Access to Justice and the Politics of Judicial Retrenchment. Studies in Postwar American Political Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 1994. Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tsutsui, Kiyoteru, and Shin, Hwa Ji. 2008. “Global Norms, Local Activism, and Social Movement Outcomes: Global Human Rights and Resident Korean in Japan.” Social Problems 55 (3): 391–418.Google Scholar
Upham, Frank K. 1987. Law and Social Change in Postwar Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Vallinder, Torbjörn. 1994. “The Judicialization of Politics – A Worldwide Phenomenon: Introduction.” International Political Science Review 15 (2): 91–99.Google Scholar
Vanhala, Lisa. 2012. “Legal Opportunity Structures and the Paradox of Legal Mobilization by the Environmental Movement in the UK.” Law & Society Review 46 (3): 523–56.Google Scholar
Vanhala, Lisa 2018a. “Is Legal Mobilization for the Birds? Legal Opportunity Structures and Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations in the United Kingdom, France, Finland, and Italy.” Comparative Political Studies 51 (3): 380–412.Google Scholar
Vanhala, Lisa 2018b. “Shaping the Structure of Legal Opportunities: Environmental NGOs Bringing International Environmental Procedural Rights Back Home.” Law & Policy 40 (1): 110–27.Google Scholar
Whittington, Keith E. 2005. “‘Interpose Your Friendly Hand’: Political Supports for the Exercise of Judicial Review by the United States Supreme Court.” American Political Science Review 99 (4): 583–96.Google Scholar
Wilson, Bruce M., and Rodriguez Cordero, Juan Carlos. 2006. “Legal Opportunity Structures and Social Movements: The Effects of Institutional Change on Costa Rican Politics.” Comparative Political Studies 39 (3): 325–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Won, Hoshin. 2016. “Measures to Realize Sustainable and Efficient Justice from the Perspective of Information and Communications Technology Focusing on the Korean Court Special Articles: SNU-JPRI-Berkeley.” Journal of Korean Law 16: 67–92.Google Scholar
Yang, Kun. 1989. “Law and Society Studies in Korea: Beyond the Hahm Theses.” Law & Society Review 23 (5): 891–901.Google Scholar
Yonhap News. 2017. “Top Court Orders Gov’t to Compensate Lepers for Abuse.” February 15, 2017. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20170215004600315.Google Scholar
Yoon, Dae-kyu. 2010. Law and Democracy in South Korea: Democratic Development Since 1987. Seoul: Kyungnam University Press.Google Scholar
Zackin, Emily. 2008. “Popular Constitutionalism’s Hard When You’re Not Very Popular: Why the ACLU Turned to Courts.” Law & Society Review 42 (2): 367–96.Google Scholar
Zemans, Frances Kahn. 1983. “Legal Mobilization: The Neglected Role of the Law in the Political System.” The American Political Science Review 77 (3): 690–703.Google Scholar