During the early years of South Korea’s transition to democracy, expanding popular rule and deepening individual rights went hand-in-hand. But Roh Moo Hyun’s presidency has exposed rifts between majority rule and constitutionalism that the country’s judiciary is struggling to bridge.
About the Authors
Hahm Chaihark
Hahm Chaihark is assistant professor in the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University, where he also chairs the Korean Studies Program. He is coeditor (with Daniel A. Bell) of The Politics of Affective Relations: East Asia and Beyond (2004).
The judiciary is widely assumed to defend democracy. Yet in reality, even when independent of elected governments, courts can endanger democracy—sometimes by enabling executives and sometimes by aggressively fighting them.
