@article{2014:hwang_sik:gegenwart_,
title = {Gegenwart und Zukunft der koreanischen Verfassung},
year = {2014},
note = {Since 1948, the Constitution of the Republic of Korea has been amended
nine times. In these decades, the country saw periods of being a
democratic state and of being a dictatorship before once again turning
into a democracy, which has become very stable in the decades since
the last amendment in 1987. After more than 25 years, new calls for
constitutional reform have emerged. These could include the addition
of new fundamental rights and amendments to existing ones, a
re-structuring of the political system as well as changes of the
competences of the constitutional court. Fundamental rights have been
more clearly defined through adjudication, but some open questions
might still be decided through constitutional amendment - for instance
concerning the permissibility of the death penalty. Also, provisions
concerning conscriptions, a right to access to information or to
asylum might be added to the constitutional text in the future. As far
as the political system is concerned, suggestions include alterations
to the role and competences of the president, whose powers are
currently very extensive, but who cannot be re-elected. There have
also been calls for turning to a bi-cameral parliamentary system. The
role of the constitutional court is not very clearly defined by the
constitution, so an amendment might be useful to delineate its
competences as opposed to the other courts of the country - while some
voices even call for abolishing the court altogether. It is clear that
there are many paths that the constitution might take in the future,
and one may learn from the experiences of other countries in order to
choose one of these paths. At the same time, it is important to keep
the social and cultural particularities of the country in mind.},
journal = {VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee},
pages = {283--292},
author = {Hwang Sik, Kim},
volume = {47},
number = {3}
}