As part of the Lecture Series at the Institute for Korean Studies (IKS) of Freie Universität Berlin, which is organized by DAAD-Star-Professor Hyo-Je Cho, on November 2nd Professor Ahn Kyong-Whan gave a special lecture on "The economy-first-policy and Human Rights in Korea".

 

In his lecture titled “Obscuring the Causes of Human Rights: South Korea in an ‘Economy-First’ Era” Professor Ahn gave a sweeping overview of the present state of human rights in South Korea, the challenges human rights community currently faces and the possible prospect for the protection of human rights in the future.

Ahn’s lecture touched upon the development of the country through the lens of both the political and economic developments. His basic argument was that Korea has passed through rather tumultuous paths with many problems and dark days but it was able to consolidate its democracy after the 1987 democratization watershed. In this process of ‘soft landing’ of rule of law, the principle of human rights has played a critical role to help the country achieve what it has accomplished so far not only in the majoritarian democratic sense but also in the sense of protection of minority voices and ‘forgotten’ agenda of the less powerful.

The current standing of the human rights principle within the entire governing ethos and the role of human rights movements seem to have encountered setbacks since the new conservative government in 2008. Nowhere has this challenge been more severe in the form of the ‘Economy-First’ policy of the new administration. But professor Ahn predicted that the present situation, albeit disappointing, should be understood as an inevitable part of a long and arduous process of democratization and the rule of law. His cautious but optimistic note was sealed with the memorable adage that “we should be hungry for justice and angry to injustice!” This well-attended event illustrated the importance of human rights in the healthy functioning of democracy and the indicative value of human rights for the future development of South Korea in political as well as in economic sense.

 

 

Background information on Prof. Ahn:

 

   Professor Ahn, Kyong-Whan has taught at the Seoul National University Law School since 1987 and was the Dean of the School in 2002-04. He also taught as a visiting faculty to many overseas institutions, such as London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Santa Clara Law School, Harvard Law School, and Stanford Law School.   

   Ahn served as the President of the Korean Constitutional Law Association (1999-2001), President of Korean Law School Deans' Association (2002-04), Chairperson of the Committee of Legal Policy of the Ministry of Justice (2003-04), and the Higher Education Reform Committee of the Ministry of Education (2004-05). Ahn is the former Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (2006-2009), during which period he was elected the Deputy Chair of the International Coordination Committee of the National Human Rights Institutions--an association of the national human rights institutions working within the U.N. framework. From early 1990s' Ahn has actively engaged with civil society. He was a founding leader of PSPD (People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, 1994) and the Beautiful Foundation (2000).     

   Throughout his academic career, Ahn has published extensively, both in Korean and English, in the fields of the Anglo-American Law, Constitutional Law, Law and Literature, and Human Right Law. Ahn holds a Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University, an LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania, and LL.B. from Seoul National University. He was admitted to the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar.  For his dedicated activities in human rights, Ahn was awarded special prizes from the Korean Women's Society (2004) and Santa Clara Law School Alumni Association (2005).