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
5 - Advancing Human Rights, Advancing a Nation
Becoming a Seonjinguk via the National Human Rights Commission of 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
This chapter examines human rights policies and their relationship to conceptions of the national interest, focusing on the 2001 establishment and subsequent functioning of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK). The chapter argues that one reason why Korea created and consolidated the NHRCK was to realize its desired identity as a seonjinguk (advanced country). Over time, with changes in political administrations, the definition of a seonjinguk transformed alongside human rights discourses, with implications for the NHRCK’s functioning as a channel for rights-claiming. By tracing the rise and subsequent weakening of the NHRCK from 2001 to 2012, this chapter demonstrates that national interest considerations shape state decisions about whether to comply with or disregard global human rights norms embodied in national human rights institutions like the NHRCK. It also illustrates the interplay between international and domestic human rights discourses.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Rights Claiming in South Korea , pp. 106 - 125Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Ahn, Kyung-hwan. 2006. “Chwiimsa” [Inauguration speech]. October 20, 2006. www.humanrights.go.kr/site/main/index001.Google Scholar
Ahn, Kyung-hwan 2008. “Segye ingwon seoneon 60junyeon ginyeomsa: “Teingwon hyangsangeuro gukgaui pumgyeogeul nopija” [Statement in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Let’s improve national class by enhancing human rights]. December 10, 2008. www.humanrights.go.kr/site/main/index001.Google Scholar
Amnesty International. 1998a. “A Human Rights Agenda for South Korea.” www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/152000/asa250051998en.pdf. Accessed May 4, 2017.Google Scholar
Amnesty International 1998b. “Proposed Standards for a National Human Rights Commission.” www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/152000/asa250161998en.pdf. Accessed May 4, 2017.Google Scholar
Amnesty International 1998c. “Letter from Amnesty International’s Secretary-General, Pierre Sane.” www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/152000/asa250371998en.pdf. Accessed May 4, 2017.Google Scholar
Amnesty International 1999. “Open Letter to President Kim Dae-jung.” April 9, 1999. Amnesty International. www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/144000/asa250171999en.pdf. Accessed May 4, 2017.Google Scholar
Amnesty International 2008. “Grave Concerns for the Future Independence of the National Human Rights Commission of South Korea.” January 18, 2008. Amnesty International. www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/52000/asa250012008eng.pdf. Accessed May 4, 2017.Google Scholar
ANNI (Asian NGOs Network on National Human Rights Institutions). 2008. “Asian NGOs Condemn South Korea’s Plan to Control Its National Human Rights Commission.” January 22, 2008. www.forum-asia.org/?p=7389.Google Scholar
Arbour, Louise. 2008. “Korea: Letter from the High Commissioner for Human Rights Regarding the Independence of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.” Forwarded Statement no. AHRC-FST-006–2008 to Lee Kyung-sook. www.humanrights.asia/news/forwarded-news/AHRC-FST-006–2008.Google Scholar
Baek, Woon Jo. 2002. “Daehanminguk gukgaingwonwiwonhoe beobui ipbeop gwajeonge gwanhan yeongu” [Study on the legislative process of the National Human Rights Commission Act of Republic of Korea]. Ph.D. dissertation, Inha University.Google Scholar
Cardenas, Sonia. 2003. “Emerging Global Actors: The United Nations and National Human Rights Institutions.” Global Governance 9: 23–42.Google Scholar
Cho, Baeki. 2011. “Gukgaingwonwiwonhoe guseongui munjejeomgwa gaeseonbangan” [Problems of the composition of the NHRCK and ways to improve]. In Gukgaingwonwiwonhoe seollip 10junyeon daetoronhoe [Conference on the occasion on the 10th anniversary of the NHRCK], 176–96. Seoul: Korea Human Rights Foundation.Google Scholar
Cho, Yong-Whan. 2000. “Gukgaingwon giguui gukjejeok baljeongwa hangugui daean” [National human rights institution: international development and proposal for Korea]. MA thesis, Seoul National University.Google Scholar
Chung, Tae-uk. 2009. “Gukgaingwonwiwonhoeui dongnipseonggwa jikjeryeong gaejeongui munje” [The independence of National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) and the Chief Commissionerial Decree (Presidential Decree) on the reorganization of the NHRCK]. Minju Beobhak 40: 11–43.Google Scholar
Chung, Tae-uk. 2011. “Gukgaingwonwiwonhoe 10nyeonui byeonhwa: bukhan ingwon munjereul jungsimeuro” [Change in the NHRCK over ten years – centered on North Korean human rights issues]. In Gukgaingwonwiwonhoe seollip 10junyeon daetoronhoe [Conference on the occasion on the 10th anniversary of the NHRCK], 165–74. Seoul: Korea Human Rights Foundation.Google Scholar
Chung, Young-Sun. 2011. “Gukgaingwonwiwonhoeui dongripseonge daehan bipanjeok gochal” [Critical review of the independence of the NHRCK]. In Gukgaingwonwiwonhoe seollip 10junyeon daetoronhoe [Conference on the occasion on the 10th anniversary of the NHRCK], 197–219. Seoul: Korea Human Rights Foundation et al.Google Scholar
Dudden, Alexis. 2017. “Revolution by Candlelight: How South Koreans Toppled a Government.” Dissent Magazine, Fall 2017. www.dissentmagazine.org/article/revolution-by-candlelight-how-south-koreans-toppled-a-government.Google Scholar
Flowers, Petrice R. 2009. Refugees, Women, and Weapons: International Norm Adoption and Compliance in Japan. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Goodman, Ryan, and Pegram, Thomas, eds. 2011. Human Rights, State Compliance, and Social Change: Assessing National Human Rights Institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hankyoreh. 2000a. “Ingwonwi gukgagigu chujin” [The Human Rights Commission of Korea to be created as a state institution]. November 2, 2000. www.bigkinds.or.kr/news/newsDetailView.do?newsId=01101001.20001102000000104&fbclid=IwAR3TNfKv8MqTGXg6wwyJ0iH8UOSELv3__KLb8VNAr9Z4lUUncG03m2Iz430.Google Scholar
Hankyoreh 2000b. “’Ingwonwi gukgagiguro gyeollon nana 3nyeonran’ Maedeup Dangye Nobelsangui Him?” [The Human Rights Commission of Korea will end up being created as a state institution? The power of the Nobel Prize ends the ‘three-year controversy’?]. November 2, 2000. www.bigkinds.or.kr/news/newsDetailView.do?newsId=01101001.20001102000000509&fbclid=IwAR0kXrPEaEzooLjW77yEYUeQ4LLIhPvlDwehYWuNlm3IBa9oYuGxj1CeXrw.Google Scholar
Hankyoreh 2009. “[Editorial] Heeding Resigning Commissioner’s Advice for Soft Power.” Hankyoreh, July 10, 2009. http://book.hani.com/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/365056.html.Google Scholar
John, Jojin V. 2015. “Globalization, National Identity and Foreign Policy: Understanding ‘Global Korea’.” The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies 33(2): 38–57.Google Scholar
Kim, Chang-suk. 2001. “Doum doeneun gukgagigu mandeulgetda [We will make a helpful governmental institution].” Hankyoreh, November 7, 2001. http://h21.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/3818.html.Google Scholar
Kim, Dong Chun. 2006. 1997nyeon ihu hanguk sahoeui seongchal [Introspection of Korean society since 1997]. Seoul: Gil.Google Scholar
Kim, Dong Wook. 2009. “Institutionalizing Human Rights: The United Nations, Nongovernmental Organizations and National Human Rights Institutions.” Ph.D. dissertation, Political Science, University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Kim, Doosik. 2010. “Lee Myung-bak jeongbuhaui gukgaingwonwiwonhoe, wigiinga gihoeinga?” [The National Human Rights Commission under MB government: How to turn crisis into opportunity?]. Law and Society 39: 49–74.Google Scholar
Kim, Jong Seo. 2012. “Lee Myung-bak jeongbu 5nyeonui beop, ingwon, minjujuui” [Law, human rights and democracy during five years under Lee Myung-bak administration]. Minju Beopak 50: 55–88.Google Scholar
Kim, Jongtae. 2011. “The Discourse of sonjin’guk: South Korea’s Eurocentric Modern Identities and Worldviews.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Kim, Jongtae 2012. “The West and East Asian National Identities: A Comparison of Discourses of Korean Seonjinguk, Japanese Nihonjinron, and Chinese New Nationalism.” In Globalization and Development in East Asia, edited by Pieterse, Jan Nederveen and Kim, Jongtae, 80–97. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kim, Ki-hong. 2017. “President Moon, Restoring Fallen Human Rights in Korea.” BreakNews, May 25, 2017. www.breaknews.com/sub_read.html?uid=510840.Google Scholar
Kim, Nan. 2017. “Candlelight and the Yellow Ribbon: Catalyzing Re-Democratization in South Korea.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 15–14-5 (July 15, 2017).Google Scholar
Kim, Tae-gyun. 2009. “NHRCK 8 Year Cumulative Acceptance Rate 89.1%.” Yonhap News, November 24, 2009.Google Scholar
Kim, Yung-myung. 2014. “Hanguk minjujuuiui baljeongwa toebo: Roh Moo-hyun jeongbu wa Lee Myung-bak jeongbu” [The development and decay of Korean democracy: A comparison of Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak governments]. Hanguk Jeongchi yeongu 23(3): 137–62.Google Scholar
Kjaerum, Morten. 2003. “National Human Rights Institutions Implementing Human Rights.” In Human Rights and Criminal Justice for the Downtrodden, edited by Slvensky, Klaus, 631–54. Leiden: Martinus Nijohff Publishers.Google Scholar
Koo, Jeong-Woo. 2011. “Origins of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea: Global and Domestic Causes.” In South Korean Social Movements: From Democracy to Civil Society, edited by Shin, Gi-Wook and Chang, Paul Y., 77–95. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Koo, Jeong-Woo, and Ramirez, Francisco O.. 2009. “National Incorporation of Global Human Rights: Worldwide Expansion of National Human Rights Institutions, 1966–2004.” Social Forces 87(3): 1321-53.Google Scholar
Lee, Mi-kyung. 2001. “On the National Human Rights Commission of Korea Act.” National Assembly Records, February 27, 2001. http://likms.assembly.go.kr/record/mhs-40-010.do?classCode=2&daeNum=20&commCode=BA&outConn=Y#none.Google Scholar
Lee, Suk-i. 2008. “Beopjilseo oechimyeo ingwon gyeongsihaneun Lee Myung-bak jeongbu” [Lee Myung-bak’s disregard of human rights and promotion of legal order]. Sisain, December 15, 2008. www.sisain.co.kr/?mod=news&act=articleView&idxno=3435.Google Scholar
Minbyeon-Lawyers for a Democratic Society. 2010. Press Statement on the Resignation of Two Standing Commissioners of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. November 18, 2010.Google Scholar
MOFAT (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea). 2007. Diplomatic White Paper. Seoul: Republic of Korea.Google Scholar
NHRCK. 2002. “National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea Annual Report 2002.” www.humanrights.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?currentpage=2&menuid=002003003001&pagesize=10&boardtypeid=7017&boardid=7000233.Google Scholar
NHRCK 2003. “National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea Annual Report 2003.” www.humanrights.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?currentpage=2&menuid=002003003001&pagesize=10&boardtypeid=7017&boardid=7000297.Google Scholar
NHRCK 2006. “National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea Annual Report 2006.” www.humanrights.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?currentpage=2&menuid=002003003001&pagesize=10&boardtypeid=7017&boardid=7000685.Google Scholar
NHRCK 2007. “National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea Annual Report 2007.” www.humanrights.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?currentpage=2&menuid=002003003001&pagesize=10&boardtypeid=7017&boardid=7001181.Google Scholar
NHRCK 2009. “Chok Kim Dae-jung jeon daetongryeonggwa ingwonwi” [Late President Kim Dae-jung and the NHRCK]. http://webzine.humanrights.go.kr/user/sub/right_view.do?no=16859&magazine=2009.09*10.Google Scholar
NHRCK 2011. “Public Survey on the Perception of Human Rights 2011.” http://humanrights.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?currentpage=11&menuid=001003001004&pagesize=10&boardtypeid=16&boardid=603763.Google Scholar
NHRCK 2017. “NHRCK Welcomes the Commitment to Reinstate the Commission’s Reputation.” www.humanrights.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?boardtypeid=24&boardid=7601114&menuid=001004002001.Google Scholar
NHRCK 2018. Gukga ingwonwi hyeoksin wiwonhoe gwongo [Recommendations of NHRCK – Reforms Committee]. http://humanrights.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?menuid=001004002001&boardtypeid=24&boardid=7602376.Google Scholar
Park, Joo-min. 2011. “Pyohyeonui jayue gwanhan gukgaingwonwiwonhoeui yeokal mit geu byeonhwa” [NHRCK’s role and its changes with regard to freedom of expression]. In Gukgaingwonwiwonhoe seollip 10junyeon Daedoronhoe [Conference on the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the NHRCK], 2–25. Seoul: Korea Human Rights Foundation.Google Scholar
Park, Sang-bong. 2010. “Teukbyeolgihoek: seonjingugeuro ganeun gil, beopjilseo chulcheo – dogilui jipoewa siwi” [G20 special edition: in becoming seonjinguk – establishment of law and order: association and assembly in Germany]. Future Korea, April 20, 2010. www.futurekorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=19613.Google Scholar
Pegram, Thomas. 2015. “Global Human Rights Governance and Orchestration: National Human Rights Institutions as Intermediaries.” European Journal of International Relations 21(3): 595–620.Google Scholar
Pohjolainen, Anna-Elina. 2006. The Evolution of National Human Rights Institutions: The Role of the United Nations. Copenhagen: The Danish Institute for Human Rights.Google Scholar
Presidential Secretariat. 2004. Roh Moo-hyun daetongryeong yeonseol munjip [Collection of President Roh Moo-hyun’s statements] Vol. 1 (February 1, 2003–January 31, 2004), edited by Presidential Secretariat.Google Scholar
Presidential Secretariat 2005. Roh Moo-hyun daetongryeong yeonseol munjip [Collection of President Roh Moo-hyun’s statements]. Vol. 2 (February 1, 2004–January 31, 2005), edited by Presidential Secretariat.Google Scholar
Presidential Secretariat 2008. Roh Moo-hyun daetongryeong yeonseol munjib [Collection of President Roh Moo-hyun’s statements]. Vol. 5 (February 1, 2007–January 31, 2008) of Collection of President Roh Moo-hyun’s Statements, edited by Presidential Secretariat.Google Scholar
Reif, Linda C. 2000. “Building Democratic Institutions: The Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Good Governance and Human Rights Protection.” Harvard Human Rights Journal 13: 1–69.Google Scholar
Renshaw, Catherine, and Taylor, Katrina. 2008. “Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in the Asia Pacific; the Relationship Between National Human Rights Institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations.” Human Rights Defender 17 (2): 5–7.Google Scholar
Renshaw, Catherine, and Fitzpatrick, Kieren. 2012. “National Human Rights Institutions in the Asia Pacific Region: Change Agents under Conditions of Uncertainty.” In Human Rights, State Compliance, and Social Change: Assessing National Human Rights Institutions, edited by Goodman, Ryan and Pegram, Thomas, 150–180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shin, Jin-ho. 2011. “Malbal an meokineun ingwonwi” [Non-acceptance of the NHRCK]. Segye Ilbo, December 12, 2011. www.segye.com/newsView/20111211002785.Google Scholar
Sidoti, Chris. 2011. “National Human Rights Institutions and the International Human Rights System.” In Human Rights, State Compliance, and Social Change: Assessing National Human Rights Institutions, edited by Goodman, Ryan and Pegram, Thomas, 93–123. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tharoor, Ishaan. 2017. “South Korea Just Showed the World How to Do Democracy.” Washington Post, May 10, 2017. www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/10/south-korea-just-showed-the-world-how-to-do-democracy/?utm_term=.28456a885d27.Google Scholar
Yoo, Dong-yul. 2010. “Teukbyeol gihoek: seonjingugeuro ganeun gil, beopjilseo chulcheo – Hujinjeok jipoesiwi, ijen sarajyeoya handa” [G20 special edition: in becoming seonjinguk – establishment of law and order: hujinguk style association and assembly should stop]. Future Korea, March 19, 2010. www.futurekorea.co.kr/news/articlePrint.html?idxno=19552.Google Scholar