2026, Vol.14, No.3

Insurers’ Liability for Compensation in the Age of Automated Driving and Autonomous Shipping - Focusing on the Structural Differences and Functional Integration between Motor Liability Insurance and P&I Insurance -

Lee, Kyung-Min | 2026, 14(3) | pp.13~62 | number of Cited : 0

The development of automated driving and autonomous shipping technologies is fundamentally transforming the structure of accident causation, the allocation of civil liability, and the compensatory role of insurers. Traditionally, human conduct and negligence on the part of drivers, masters, or crew members have served as important bases for determining the causes of road and maritime accidents and allocating liability. In automated and autonomous transportation, however, artificial intelligence, automated driving and autonomous navigation systems, sensors, communication networks, data, remote operation, and cybersecurity may all contribute to the occurrence of an accident. As a result, it may become increasingly difficult to identify the ultimately liable party immediately after an accident, while, depending on the cause of the accident and the applicable legal relationships, potential liability may involve not only vehicle operators or shipowners but also manufacturers, software developers, system providers, data providers, and remote operators. This diversification of accident causation and potentially liable actors calls for a conceptual distinction between prompt compensation of victims and the ultimate allocation of liability. Compulsory motor liability insurance has developed as a victim-protection mechanism based on mandatory insurance and direct claims against insurers. Korean automobile compensation law preserves this victim-protection framework while allowing an insurer that has compensated a victim for an accident caused by a defect in an automated vehicle to seek recourse against the person legally liable for the loss. From a comparable victim-protection perspective, the United Kingdom’s Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 imposes first-instance liability on insurers, subject to statutory conditions, for accidents caused by an automated vehicle while driving itself. The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 further develops the broader regulatory framework by introducing regulatory actors such as the Authorised Self-Driving Entity (ASDE) and the no-user-in-charge (NUiC) operator. Protection and Indemnity (P&I) insurance, by contrast, developed under fundamentally different historical and economic conditions. P&I Clubs provide mutual insurance against various third-party liabilities incurred by shipowners and other members and have developed a multilayered risk-distribution structure combining mutual risk sharing among members, individual Club retention, International Group pooling, and global reinsurance. This structure provides useful insights into the management of large-scale accumulation and systemic risks that may arise in autonomous shipping, particularly where a common software or algorithmic defect, communication network failure, or cyberattack affects multiple vessels. This article does not argue that compulsory motor liability insurance and P&I insurance are legally equivalent or directly interchangeable. Rather, it adopts a functional approach that identifies the distinct advantages developed by each system and examines how those functions may complement one another in the emerging technological environment of automated driving and autonomous shipping. The victim-protection and prompt-compensation functions developed in motor liability insurance may reduce delays caused by complex technological liability disputes, while subsequent recourse may reallocate the ultimate cost of liability to manufacturers, system providers, or other actors legally responsible for the accident. At the same time, the pooling and reinsurance mechanisms developed in P&I insurance may provide a useful model for distributing large-scale accumulation and systemic technological risks that exceed the capacity of an individual insurer. Accordingly, insurers’ compensatory responsibility in the age of automated driving and autonomous shipping should be reconstructed around three interrelated functions: prompt and primary compensation of victims; subsequent reallocation of the ultimate cost of liability through recourse based on the cause of the accident and the applicable legal relationships; and multilayered distribution of large-scale and systemic risks through collective risk sharing and reinsurance. Such a functional integration may prevent the uncertainties created by technological complexity from being shifted onto victims, while promoting an appropriate allocation of liability costs and a sustainable risk-distribution framework for automated driving and autonomous shipping.

A Study on Control Measures for the Expansion of Police Power and Concentration of Investigative Authority under the Revised Criminal Procedure Act- Focusing on the Concentration and Accountability of Police Investigative Powers - ❙투고일자: 2026년 08월 10일 ❙심사일자: 2026년 08월 22일 ❙게재확정: 2026년 08월 27일 * 유원대학교 경찰소방행정학부 교수

Gunwoong Yeom | 2026, 14(3) | pp.65~108 | number of Cited : 0

This study examines the expansion and functional concentration of police investigative authority following the 2020 amendment to the Korean Criminal Procedure Act and the investigative authority reform implemented in 2021, and proposes a multi-layered accountability framework. The reform abolished the prosecutor’s general authority to direct police investigations, redefined prosecutors and judicial police officers as cooperative actors, and authorized the police to make first-stage non-referral decisions in cases where criminal suspicion is not recognized. At the same time, the law retained ex post controls including requests for supplementary investigation, corrective measures for illegality or human-rights violations, requests for reinvestigation, objections by interested parties, and judicial control over compulsory measures. In this article, “monopoly of investigative authority” does not mean that the police possess an exclusive legal monopoly over all criminal investigations. Rather, it describes the functional concentration that arises when initiation, progression, and first-stage termination of ordinary criminal investigations are combined within the same nationwide police organization. This distinction is particularly important because the Prosecution Office Act and the Act on the Organization and Operation of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, enacted in March 2026 and scheduled to take effect on October 2, 2026, indicate a further move toward a pluralized investigative structure. Based on current statutes and recent Korean scholarship published mainly from 2020 through 2026, this study identifies four principal issues: the effectiveness and complexity of controls over police non-referral decisions; delay and repeated movement of cases between investigative bodies; tension between the internal independence and centralization of the National Office of Investigation; and fragmentation of external and democratic oversight. The study proposes: strengthening an independent external oversight mechanism; redesigning remedies against non-referral decisions in stages; expanding judicial review centered on the courts; improving internal controls over case assignment, review, investigation periods, and audit; reinforcing both the organizational independence and public accountability of the National Office of Investigation; clarifying checks and cooperation among police, prosecution, and future serious-crime investigative bodies; and expanding investigative staffing, professional specialization, and disclosure of performance and rights-protection statistics. The central conclusion is that effective control should not restore a comprehensive hierarchical direction model. Instead, investigative independence should be combined with reason-giving, recordability, reviewability, and judicial remedies so that powerful police investigative authority can be exercised within a transparent and accountable framework.

Structural Limitations of Korea’s Current Autonomous Police System and the Legislative-Policy Design of an Accountability-Based Autonomous Police Model — Focusing on Comparative Police Accountability Structures and the Redesign of Resident-Centered Local Policing —

신주현 , Lee, In Gon | 2026, 14(3) | pp.109~162 | number of Cited : 0

Korea’s current autonomous police system has established a statutory foundation for treating community safety, traffic control, and the protection of socially vulnerable persons as autonomous police affairs. It has also created city and provincial autonomous police committees through which local policing demands may be reflected in regional policies. Nevertheless, the organizations and personnel responsible for carrying out autonomous police affairs remain within the national police system, while substantial authority over personnel, finance, and operational command has not been transferred. Consequently, policy-making authority, field-level implementation, and accountability for policing outcomes are divided among different institutions. This study approaches these limitations not merely as a question of allocating police functions or choosing between unified and dual organizational models, but as a problem involving the attribution of functions, organization, personnel authority, financial responsibility, command authority, and accountability for outcomes. It analyzes the current statutory and operational framework and compares the police accountability structures of Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. The comparison demonstrates that local police institutions generally assume primary responsibility for community policing, whereas the central government retains responsibility for national standards, interregional coordination, professional support, and the correction of regional disparities. Democratic control is exercised by residents and local councils, while political neutrality in individual law-enforcement activities is protected through collegiate police bodies and statutory limitations on political intervention. Based on these findings, this study proposes the phased alignment of autonomous police affairs with their implementing organizations, beginning with community-safety functions, and the establishment of city and provincial autonomous police headquarters under autonomous police committees. It further proposes the substantive transfer of personnel and ordinary command authority, the creation of stable statutory funding such as an autonomous police grant, and the legal institutionalization of joint-response and jurisdictional-dispute mechanisms between the national and autonomous police. An accountability-based autonomous police system signifies a transition from the formal decentralization of functions to responsibility-based decentralization, under which the institution exercising policing authority must explain and assume responsibility for its outcomes.

Operational Status and Improvement Measures of the Special Judicial Police System — On the Occasion of the Transition of the Criminal Justice System due to the Abolition of the Prosecution's Investigative Power —

Oh, JungYong | 2026, 14(3) | pp.163~193 | number of Cited : 0

The Special Judicial Police (SJP) system was introduced to effectively investigate administrative crimes in specialized fields that are difficult for general judicial police to handle, responding to the complexity and specialization of modern administration. Administrative officials, who are granted specific authority by law, play a crucial role in securing the effectiveness of administration and cracking down on illegal acts by discovering crimes and conducting swift investigations based on their specialized knowledge. This system contributes to filling gaps in police forces and improving crime response capabilities through specialized investigations. However, the quantitative expansion of the SJP system has exposed various limitations and problems. First, because SJPs are primarily administrative experts rather than investigative experts, they tend to focus on simple crackdowns rather than substantive investigations due to frequent rotational assignments and a lack of investigative capacity. Second, confusion arises from overlapping jurisdictions with the general judicial police and the absence of clear control measures. Furthermore, concerns are raised regarding the risk of infringing on citizens' fundamental rights if the SJP—which inherently blends administrative and investigative powers—abuses compulsory investigations. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to establish improvement measures to ensure the effectiveness and fairness of the SJP system. To achieve this, the appointment criteria must be clarified, and investigative capabilities should be strengthened by introducing a systematic education and certification system for SJPs. Additionally, to prevent a vacuum in judicial control following the abolition of prosecutors' authority to direct and supplement investigations, external and judicial control mechanisms must be materialized. This includes establishing an 'investigation-indictment consultative body' and an independent legal support organization. Ultimately, the system must be redesigned—such as by establishing a new specialized agency that oversees SJP duties—so that the SJP system can actively protect citizens' rights and fully exercise its specialized investigative functions.

Reconstructing Explainability in Predictive Policing - From Outcome-Oriented XAI to Democratic Control of Input Data -

Kang Sun | 2026, 14(3) | pp.195~216 | number of Cited : 0

The Criteria for Assessing the Legitimacy of Legal Boundaries : Application in Positive Law - Focusing on Four Cases in the Law Governing Foreign Nationals -

CHOI SAEM | 2026, 14(3) | pp.219~260 | number of Cited : 0

A legal order comes into being by drawing its own boundaries, and this boundary-drawing constitutes the core of that order. Focusing on the grounds on which such boundary-drawing can be justified, this article applies four criteria for assessing the legitimacy of legal boundaries—function-boundedness, outcome-responsiveness, redescribability, and the non-vacancy of responsibility—to positive law and tests their practical utility. This article brings these four criteria to bear on the subject of foreign nationals. In an era in which cross-border movement has become a constant feature of life, foreign nationals are formally regarded as external to the national community, yet substantively situated within the protection and control of that legal order. This boundary position provides an occasion to reexamine the distinction between nationals and foreign nationals, and the distribution of status and eligibility built upon that distinction. With this problem in view, the article applies four cases drawn from the law governing foreign nationals, revealing the concrete implications of each of the four criteria from a different perspective. In doing so, it examines what justificatory burden these boundary categories must actually bear, and confirms the meaning and value of each criterion. These four criteria divide into a level of application (function-boundedness, outcome-responsiveness) and a level of structure (redescribability, the non-vacancy of responsibility), and the four cases each pass through two criteria at the level of application and two at the level of structure. This symmetry reveals that the four cases were not chosen at random, but arranged so as to target the two aspects along which a legal boundary is tested: the application of the boundary and the validity of the boundary itself. The special provision for foreign nationals under the National Basic Living Security Act is analyzed as a case in which function-boundedness fails to be carried through, insofar as the interests, logic, and methodology proper to one phase encroach upon another phase without independent renewed justification (Ⅱ). The simplified procedure under the Refugee Act is examined as a case in which outcome-responsiveness is not satisfied, insofar as the classificatory grounds and screening procedure fail to correspond to the gravity of the outcomes they produce (Ⅲ). The system of multiple nationality under the Nationality Act appears as a case that falls short of redescribability, insofar as the demand for redescription—raised against the premise of exclusive singular attribution by transnational migration and by those who bring it to the fore—remains incomplete owing to its own formal limits (Ⅳ). The reciprocity requirement under the State Compensation Act is shown as a case that fails to answer to the non-vacancy of responsibility, in that it forecloses, on grounds of nationality alone, the very channel through which responsibility could be asked (Ⅴ). In the course of this analysis, the article confirms that these problems are not peculiar to Korean law but are shared difficulties to which various countries have responded in different ways, and draws comparative reference points accordingly. The cases examined here are, in the end, so many boundary lines drawn by law. The single category of the foreign national is expressed through the distinction between national and foreign national, and between the rights of the citizen and the rights of the human, and unfolds across the four cases into distinct boundary lines—the presence or absence of eligibility for benefits, simplified versus ordinary procedure, single versus multiple nationality, and those who may claim compensation and those who may not. Through this, the article shows that defects scattered across different areas of law can be identified, within a single analytical framework, as problems of distinct character, and suggests that this framework may serve as a diagnostic tool applicable to future sites of legislation and adjudication.

Structural Limitations of Immigration and Visa Policies and the Design of a Rights - Based Integrated Immigration System Focusing on Comparisons with Major Nations and Analyses of Case Law -

Jongho Kim | 2026, 14(3) | pp.261~381 | number of Cited : 0

South Korea has managed the entry and stay of foreign nationals through a segmented system of residency statuses—covering categories such as economic activity, study, marriage, employment-based visits, seasonal work, refugee status, and permanent residency. While this system has effectively served functions related to administrative control and the regulation of labor market supply and demand, it has revealed significant limitations regarding the guarantee of migrants’ fundamental rights, the protection of labor rights, the social integration of long-term residents, the right to family reunification, and the predictability of pathways to permanent residency and naturalization. In particular, structural issues within South Korea’s immigration policy include restrictions on workplace mobility for foreign workers under the ‘employment permit system’, disparities in rights based on visa status, stringent requirements for long-term residency and permanent residency, the precarious legal status of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, and an immigration administration system fragmented across the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Education, and local governments. This paper proposes directions for improving South Korea’s immigration visa policies by comparing the immigration policies and key judicial precedents of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan. Significant insights for South Korea can be drawn from the U.S. model of federal-led immigration control and the guarantee of procedural rights; the U.K.’s points-based immigration system and protection of family life under human rights law; Germany’s skilled worker immigration laws and the guarantee of social rights based on human dignity; France’s republican integration model and case law rooted in the principle of fraternity; and Japan’s policies for attracting highly skilled talent alongside a structure characterized by broad administrative discretion. This paper argues that South Korea should move beyond an immigration administration focused merely on managing the stay of foreign nationals and transition to an integrated immigration legal framework based on the principles of rights-based approaches, integration orientation, predictability, and proportionality. Specific proposals include: ① simplifying the visa system and reclassifying visas based on rights; ② easing restrictions on workplace mobility under the ‘employment permit system’ and guaranteeing the right to labor market mobility; ③ institutionalizing a phased settlement pathway leading to long-term residency, permanent residency, and naturalization; ④ strengthening the protection of the right to family reunification and children’s rights; ⑤ establishing rational regularization mechanisms for refugees, humanitarian status holders, and undocumented long-term residents; ⑥ strengthening judicial oversight of the foreigner detention system and expanding alternatives to detention; ⑦ establishing an integrated inter-agency immigration governance structure; and ⑧ overhauling legislation regarding comprehensive anti-discrimination and social integration.

A Study on the Types of Breach of the Insurer's Duty of Utmost Good Faith by Insurance Contract Stage

Hwang JungHye | 2026, 14(3) | pp.383~408 | number of Cited : 0

An insurance contract is a special type of contractual relationship characterized by its aleatory nature and information asymmetry, and therefore requires a higher level of good faith than ordinary contracts. Although the duty of utmost good faith is imposed on both the policyholder and the insurer, considering the significant disparity in the information and expertise possessed by the two parties, the insurer should be subject to a more proactive duty of utmost good faith. This study examines the duty of utmost good faith not merely as a duty to provide explanations at the time of contract formation, but as a continuing obligation throughout the entire insurance relationship, from the pre-contractual stage through the maintenance and management of the insurance contract. On this basis, it discusses in detail the practical issues that may arise at each stage. Before the formation of an insurance contract, this study examined improper solicitation of insurance products, guidance provided in completing application forms, and violations of the insurer's duty to explain, particularly in the context of the solicitation process and the delivery and explanation of insurance terms and conditions. After the formation of the insurance contract, the relevant issues can be divided into the investigation of insured events, the payment of insurance proceeds, and the maintenance and management of the contract. In the investigation of insured events, problems may arise from complicated investigation procedures, prolonged investigations, and the use of medical consultations or loss adjustment procedures for the purpose of denying or reducing insurance benefits. In the insurance payment process, improper practices such as unjustified delays in payment, denial of coverage, inducement to settle, and the filing of lawsuits were identified. Finally, issues arising in the maintenance and management of insurance contracts, including lapse and termination, reinstatement, and renewal procedures, were primarily related to the exercise of the insurer's contractual powers. The analysis demonstrates that such powers must be exercised strictly within the limits prescribed by applicable law and the terms and conditions of the insurance contract. Based on the foregoing analysis, the duty of utmost good faith can serve as a standard for determining the scope and limits of an insurer's exercise of its powers in relation to the legal duties arising at each stage of the insurance relationship. Accordingly, whether an insurer has violated its duty of utmost good faith may be determined comprehensively by considering: (1) whether the exercise of its powers is authorized by applicable law and the terms and conditions of the insurance contract; (2) whether the decision is based on objective evidence and reasonable grounds; (3) whether the insurer's internal interests or business considerations have exerted an improper influence on the decision; and (4) whether the exercise of such powers has infringed upon the policyholder's legitimate rights and reasonable expectations. Developing these stage-specific criteria can contribute to protecting policyholders' interests and ensuring fairness in insurance contracts while respecting insurers' legitimate authority to assess risks and manage insurance contracts.

Constitutional Issues and Legislative Tasks of the Statutory Right to Safety - Focusing on the Framework Act on Life Safety -

임재현 , KIM JUN HO | 2026, 14(3) | pp.409~435 | number of Cited : 0

The right to safety is not expressly stipulated as an independent fundamental right in the current Constitution of the Republic of Korea; it has been derived through the interpretation of several constitutional provisions. The Framework Act on Life Safety, promulgated on 2 June 2026, is the first to declare this right in statutory law. Yet a statutory declaration, made while the right's status as a constitutional fundamental right remains unsettled, does not in itself guarantee its formation as a subjective public right or its judicial remedy. This study examines the limits inherent in a statutory—rather than constitutional—declaration of the right to safety and the problems arising in its relationship with other statutes, and proposes staged legislative tasks to resolve them. The right to safety is reconstructed not as a single independent right but as an analytical category in which a defensive right, a right to state benefit, and a procedural right operate together in one and the same safety incident; absent any direct constitutional provision, its basis rests upon the interpretation of Article 10 and Article 37(1), the State's duty to protect fundamental rights, and the doctrines of the right to know and due process. A statutory declaration leaves five problems: competition with the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety without any rule on the order of application; a lack of effectiveness as an enforceable claim; the absence of organizational-law requirements for an independent investigative body; the delegation of matters essential to rights to subordinate legislation, contrary to the principle of parliamentary reservation; and vulnerability to amendment or repeal. On this basis, the study proposes, as sequential legislative tasks: (i) the separation of disaster management and safety management into distinct statutes; (ii) the transformation of the right to safety and victims' rights into enforceable claims; (iii) the substantiation of the independent investigative body through organizational law; and (iv) the express stipulation of the right to safety in the Constitution.

Trends in Court Decisions on ‘the Separation of Church and State’ in the United States and South Korea

Jonghaeng Yoon | 2026, 14(3) | pp.437~467 | number of Cited : 0

Since the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe, the doctrine of the separation of church and state has played a significant role in shaping the development of constitutional principles and judicial precedents. In the United States, this doctrine has been interpreted as requiring the government to refrain from excessive involvement in religious affairs while safeguarding the free exercise of religion. Accordingly, governmental ceremonies may not be conducted according to the rites of a particular religion, religious oaths may not be imposed as a prerequisite for public office, and religious instruction in public schools has been deemed constitutionally impermissible. The recent controversy concerning a public high school soccer coach who prayed with several students after a game illustrates that the relationship between religious freedom and the separation of church and state remains an area of continuing constitutional tension. Although the United States adopts a stricter interpretation of the separation of church and state than countries such as Germany and France, it may nonetheless be characterized as maintaining a relatively religion-friendly constitutional framework. Religious organizations generally receive tax benefits comparable to those available to secular charitable organizations and educational institutions. Moreover, the United States has recognized that public tuition assistance programs available to students attending nonreligious private schools should also extend to students attending private religious schools. In South Korea, courts have addressed the constitutional issues arising from private religious high schools in which students are assigned through compulsory lottery-based placement systems. The courts have held that mandatory participation in religious education or religious ceremonies may violate the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state. At the same time, when conflicts arise between the religious freedom and institutional autonomy of religious schools and the religious freedom of students, Korean courts have applied the balancing of interests approach and the principle of harmonious interpretation of constitutional rights. Accordingly, students should receive sufficient information regarding the religious policies of schools before assignment, and the placement process should reflect students’ preferences to the greatest extent possible. Furthermore, institutional mechanisms should be established to allow students who object to attendance at an assigned religious school on religious grounds to transfer to alternative schools. By contrast, requiring attendance at chapel services as a graduation requirement at private religious universities does not necessarily constitute an unconstitutional infringement of students’ religious freedom. In this respect, the Supreme Court’s emphasis on the autonomy and academic freedom of Christian universities is persuasive. The Court’s interpretation that religious educational institutions must comply with statutory requirements for educational authorization is likewise appropriate. Nevertheless, judicial review should carefully examine whether the educational activities of a religious institution are predominantly religious in nature, thereby preventing unnecessary interference with religious freedom and institutional autonomy. With respect to labor and taxation issues involving religious organizations, Korean courts consider various factors in determining whether individuals engaged by religious organizations qualify as employees under the Labor Standards Act, including the payment of wages, withholding of income tax at source, and enrollment in the National Pension Scheme and the National Health Insurance program. Religious organizations are also subject to various tax exemptions or reductions. However, legislative reform remains necessary to establish clearer definitions of religious organizations and more transparent criteria for determining their public-interest status. Finally, because an unjustified denial of an application to establish a religious corporation may infringe upon the freedom to establish religious organizations, such administrative decisions require careful judicial review. The Supreme Court’s position that judicial intervention in the internal affairs of religious organizations should be exercised with restraint in order to protect religious freedom and organizational autonomy is appropriate. Similarly, limiting the authority of court-appointed temporary directors to matters strictly necessary for maintaining organizational stability, as well as adopting a cautious approach toward judicial review of internal disputes within religious organizations, appropriately reflects the constitutional value of religious autonomy.

The Criminal-Law Gap and the Limits of Criminalization under the Unfair Competition Prevention ct in the Context of AI Model Distillation — Focusing on the Distinction between Normal Use and Circumvention of Access Controls —

Lee Sang hoon | 2026, 14(3) | pp.469~496 | number of Cited : 0

As foundation models are commercialized, knowledge distillation—collecting a high-performance teacher model’s outputs at scale to build a comparable student model—has been repurposed as a means of competitive model cloning, giving rise to civil and criminal disputes. This article examines whether and to what extent Korean criminal law regulates AI model distillation. The criminal assessment of distillation splits into three domains. White-box distillation, combined with insider leakage or server intrusion, is already punishable as trade-secret infringement, occupational breach of trust, or unlawful intrusion into an information network. By contrast, normal-use distillation—collecting outputs through a legitimately issued, paid API—falls into a gap: unauthorized data use and misappropriation of achievements under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act are excluded from criminal sanction, and adjacent penal provisions are not satisfied. Notably, the sole criminally sanctioned data provision—prohibiting circumvention of technological protection measures—reaches only the trafficking of circumvention tools, not the distiller’s own act of circumvention and acquisition; and no provision regulates the act of circumvention itself in the data domain. This article treats the gap not as homogeneous but as comprising a “legitimate non-criminal zone” (normal use) and a “normatively defective boundary zone” (circumvention of access controls). Keeping the former outside criminal law accords with the principle of legality and the ultima ratio principle; the latter, however, constitutes a normative defect in light of the asymmetry between civil and criminal protection and the lack of coherence in the legislative transplantation. The appropriate response is not a stand-alone new offense but a narrowly tailored criminalization within the Unfair Competition Prevention Act—requiring organized circumvention of access controls, a commercial purpose, and serious harm, with exceptions for research, education, security testing, and interoperability. The task of criminal law is not to hastily fill the gap but to draw precisely the boundary between the legitimate non-criminal zone and the zone of limited criminal regulation.

Proposals regarding the enactment of the "Companion Animal Education Support Act"

Lee Jin Hong | 2026, 14(3) | pp.497~522 | number of Cited : 0

The Legal Nature and Interpretation of the Crime of Abandonment of a Corpse with a Focus on Cases Involving a Prior Act Followed by an Omission — Implications Derived from a Review of Japanese Case Law -

Hong, Tae-Seok , 권양섭 | 2026, 14(3) | pp.523~555 | number of Cited : 0

This study examines the legal nature of the crime of abandonment of a corpse by omission under Article 161(1) of the Korean Criminal Act, with a focus on criminal law issues arising from cases involving a combination of a preceding affirmative act of concealment or abandonment followed by a subsequent passive act of leaving the corpse unattended (hereinafter referred to as the ‘combination of a prior act and a subsequent omission’). To this end, this study comparatively reviews major Japanese judicial precedents and academic theories, thereby drawing out concrete legal implications and proposing a rational interpretive framework for Korean criminal justice practice. The essence of the crime of abandonment of a corpse lies not merely in protecting physical remains, but in safeguarding society’s general religious and reverent sentiments, as well as commemorative feelings toward the deceased. The prevailing scholarly view and judicial precedents recognize that where a person who has a legal, contractual, or customary duty to bury or care for a corpse (a person responsible for burial) fails to fulfill that duty and leaves the corpse unattended, the crime of abandonment of a corpse is established as a commission by omission. However, continuous academic and practical debates have persisted regarding the relationship between the prior act and the subsequent omission, as well as the independent establishment of a crime by omission, in “combination of a prior act and subsequent omission” scenarios, such as concealing a corpse following infanticide or leaving a corpse unattended for an extended period after a violent crime. Traditional, more restrictive views held that once the crime of abandonment of a corpse is established by a prior affirmative act, a subsequent omission does not constitute a separate offense because it lacks any new infringement of legal interests. However, this stance has a critical limitation: it fails to fully evaluate the unlawfulness and punishability when a person responsible for burial leaves a corpse unattended for a long time to evade criminal responsibility. In contrast, recent Japanese case law has recognized the establishment of the crime of abandonment of a corpse in cases where, following an affirmative act, the corpse was left unattended within the offender’s sphere of control; it held that despite the existence of the prior act, the duty to bury does not disappear, and the continuous act of leaving the corpse unattended constitutes an independent omission element. Nevertheless, the requirement of a ‘sphere of control’ suggested by some precedents risks narrowing the scope of physical control excessively, potentially creating gaps in criminal liability. Accordingly, this study examines how to overcome the limitations of the sphere-of-control logic by determining the establishment of omission liability primarily based on the ‘objective possibility of fulfilling the burial duty’ rather than physical control over the location. Furthermore, this study proposes a rational interpretive framework to achieve fair criminal responsibility: by treating the relationship between the prior act and subsequent omission as a comprehensive single offense (po-gwal iljoe), it prevents double punishment, enables the recalculation of the statute of limitations based on the subsequent omission status even when the statute for the prior act has expired and expands the scope of accomplice liability.

A Study on a Two Stage Pre Contractual Risk Regulation Framework for Housing Lease Brokerage — Focusing on the Legislative Design of Objective Minimum Safety Assessment and Suitability and Appropriateness Review —

Cho Jae Jin , Kwon, Kee Wook | 2026, 14(3) | pp.557~596 | number of Cited : 0

Current Status and Improvement Measures of Aviation Safety Legislation

park , Baek Seonsuk | 2026, 14(3) | pp.597~636 | number of Cited : 0

Today, our society is changing into a global society with the remarkable growth of AI and science and technology, and we are living in an era where safety is important from various accidents and risks in the process of economic development and rapid change in social environment. In order to operate safety more efficiently as public awareness of safety is strengthened from various risks, institutional improvements in each area are being raised more strongly than ever, especially in the field of air traffic. In the meantime, despite the fact that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport and the government have prepared various government policies and promoted legalization through the Aviation Safety Act, safety accidents related to aircraft are still occurring. The unfortunate Jeju Air disaster, which killed 179 people and injured two crew members during the landing at Muan International Airport on December 29, 2024, revealed various problems, including the possibility of a passenger plane defect and the inadequacy of the airport's defense facilities. Given the fact that aviation accidents are also increasing along with the increase in demand for air traffic, it is necessary to raise awareness of aviation safety. Aviation accidents are highly likely to lead to major disasters, so it is essential to strengthen the aviation safety system and establish a safety culture along with the quantitative growth of the aviation industry. Since the International Civil Aviation Organization mandates more than 10,000 international standards and manages the status of contracting countries through regular aviation safety evaluation, it is urgently required to prepare measures by the government. Institutional improvements such as the establishment of innovation in safety regulations, strengthening the mandatory aviation safety management system, promoting a safety information reporting system, and strengthening the aviation supervision system are needed with the advent of new technologies such as drones and urban air traffic. Collecting and supervising aviation safety data worldwide has changed from accident management to accident prevention, international standards for aviation safety data have tended to spread from accidents and quasi-accidents to wandering disorders, so recent aviation accidents have led to deficiencies in the aviation safety legislation. Therefore, it is necessary to protect the safety and lives of the people through continuous revision and system improvement, and research to identify the legal situation related to aviation safety and seek improvement measures is an urgent task. Therefore, this study reviewed the situation of the aviation safety legislation based on this environment and necessity, and then reviewed reasonable improvement measures that can contribute to the promotion of aviation safety and the development of the aviation industry.

A Study on the Duty to Give Reasons for Non-adoption of Citizen Proposals in Participatory Budgeting - Focusing on Local Governments' Accountability and the Improvement of Related Ordinances -

Seo Jeong-mi | 2026, 14(3) | pp.637~660 | number of Cited : 0

Article 39 of the Local Finance Act obliges the head of a local government to establish and operate a system enabling residents to participate in the budget process, and Article 46 of its Enforcement Decree lists public hearings, surveys and project competitions as participation methods. However, Article 46(2) of the Decree merely provides that the head of a local government "may reflect" the collected opinions in the budget process. It contains no provision requiring reasons to be given, or results to be notified to the proposer, where a proposal is not adopted. The entrance to participation is guaranteed by statute while the exit remains unregulated. This study isolates the non-adoption decision as a distinct legal issue. Because such a decision typically remains an internal preparatory step in the exercise of budget-drafting power, it is difficult to characterise it as an administrative disposition subject to revocation litigation. Yet the absence of disposition status does not by itself exempt the authority from the duty to give reasons. Article 27(3) of the Civil Petitions Treatment Act requires that, where a petition is refused, the reasons and available remedies be notified together. The current structure, under which a resident who responds to a statutorily created participation procedure is left without any result or reason, is inconsistent with that legislative scheme. Comparing the ordinances and official operating documents of Gyeonggi-do, Seoul Metropolitan City and Daegu Metropolitan City against four criteria, the study finds that all three disclose selection results to some degree, but none codifies a duty to state reasons for non-adoption or to notify the individual proposer. The study proposes introducing into the ordinances a principle of disclosure of reasons and a duty of individual notification, specifying minimum standards for the content of reasons by rule, and, in the longer term, providing a statutory basis for notification in Article 46 of the Enforcement Decree of the Local Finance Act.

A Study on the Legal Limits and Tactical Realities of Weapons Use by the Korea Coast Guard Sea Special Attack Team - Focusing on Weapons Use Standards in Counter-Terrorism Operations and Ex Post Facto Legal Judgment -

이용삼 | 2026, 14(3) | pp.663~693 | number of Cited : 0

Legal Issues in Voice Data Collection for Voice Phishing Prevention

Saeyoung Park | 2026, 14(3) | pp.695~724 | number of Cited : 0

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Legal Theory & Practice Review 2025 KCI Impact Factor : 1.06

2026, Vol.14, No.3