An Evaluative Analysis of Korean Legislative Development in Relation with Economic growth

Abstract

Ⅰ. Background and objectives □ This paper attempts to present suggestions on legislative development that took place during the process of Korean economic growth as it can be applied to developing or regime-switching countries by reviewing and analyzing legislative development processes by segment in relation with the economic growth in Korea. □ It is expected that the analysis and evaluation of the development processes of the Korean environmental legislation will present certain suggestions to some developing countries that intend to deploy systems for balanced development and environmental preservation when considering the future development of their environmental laws and legislation.

Ⅱ. Main contents □ Chapter 2 attempts to analyze the relationship between economic growth and the development of environmental legislation in Korea. It explains that environmental legislation has developed from pollution regulations to overall environmental legislation and from singular to plural law principles. However, it reaffirms that legislative development has not been parallel but a product of the times that reflect the contemporary situation surrounding environmental issues, the degree of perception of environmental issues, the government’s philosophical view on environmental issues, political determination toward impending environmental issues, and policy driving forces. □ Chapter 3 reviews and attempts an evaluation of the development processes of the Framework Act on Environmental Policy. It is a law that functions as a rudimentary statute over the environmental area. It needs be analyzed as it links the Constitution and environmental statutes to specifically realize citizens’ rights for a clean environment and duties for preserving the environment as provided under the Constitution, coordinates and consolidates individual statutes related to the environment, and present the basic philosophy, ideals and directions of the government’s environmental policies. □ Further, the Framework Act on Environmental Policy is a very significant statute in the development processes of the Korean environmental legislations that progressed from the Pollution Prevention Act to the Environment Conservation Act and then to the Framework Act on Environmental Policy. Therefore, our review of the Korean environmental statutes should examine how the statutes have developed and how effectively they function. □ Chapter 4 presents suggestions based on the development processes of Korean environmental legislation. First, it performs a sweeping evaluation of the environmental law based on the aforementioned analysis of the development processes of Korean environmental legislation. It also presents problems and tasks for developing the environmental legislation in the future, including its features, such as a plural statute principle, diversified control systems, frequent amendments, complex statutory structure, blanks in regulations, and internationality of the law.

Ⅲ. Expected effects □ We expect that the analysis and evaluation of the development processes of the Korean environmental legislation presented in this paper can offer desirable suggestions by letting certain developing countries that are seeking to deploy a system for a balanced development and preservation to examine both merits and demerits of the Korean system when considering the future development of their environmental legislation.