President Park Geun-hye on Monday urged for constitutional justice to play a leading role in promoting social integration, narrowing the gap between the haves and have-nots and resolving escalating social conflicts over racial, cultural and political differences.

“Social conflicts are escalating around the world due to a widening (economic) gap and the improper situation of power and self-interest being put ahead of law and principle,” Park said in her congratulatory speech at the opening ceremony of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice.

“There have been growing demands to protect the people, including the disadvantaged, within the boundary of the law. This highlights the significance and the importance of constitutional justice,” she said at the congress held in Seoul.

The South Korean president also stressed the importance of establishing a global network among constitutional courts around the world to improve the mechanisms of international law and the protection of human rights. The South Korean government will cooperate with the international committee on this mission, she added.

The gathering of heads of constitutional courts, supreme courts and constitutional councils from more than 90 countries around the world kicked off Monday. The event ends on Wednesday. Attendees included German Federal Constitutional Court President Andreas Vosskuhle, South African Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and Supreme Federal Court of Brazil President Ricardo Lewandowski.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)