Constitutional Court President Park Han-chul on Friday expressed his belief that South Korea needs to introduce a system of abstract judicial review, which would enable assessment of the constitutionality of legislation even when a specific case has not been raised.

“Problems are worsening each day due to consuming debates and conflicts in our society. I believe that we need to introduce abstract judicial review to solve this,” Park said during a debate held in Seoul.

South Korea currently only allows reviews of legislation, ordinances and regulations when a case challenging their constitutionality is filed, which is usually well after the laws have been put in place.

Introducing the abstract review system, practiced in such countries as Germany, would require a constitutional amendment.

“Much of the conflict will be alleviated when we adopt a system where the Constitutional Court reviews legislation before or immediately after it is enacted,” he said. He noted that political institutions faced criticism for failing to fulfill their role, in some cases aggravating social conflict and violating constitutional values.

The need for an abstract review of legislation has been raised in judiciary circles to minimize confusion arising from enforcement of controversial legislation. Some have also opposed the notion of amplifying the authority of the Constitutional Court. Last year, the Assembly passed a law enabling the parliament to demand changes to government decrees. The bill was later vetoed by President Park Geun-hye.

Park Han-chul also said that a decision would be made before the end of May on the controversial law on Assembly procedures, following Assembly speaker Chung Ui-hwa’s request for a decision as soon as possible.

The National Assembly Advancement Law, passed in 2012, requires approval of more than 60 percent of attending lawmakers for a contested bill to be put up for a vote. It also requires a bipartisan agreement for the speaker to table the bill. 

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)