This semester, I am taking a class called “Philosophical Problems in Law and Society,” in which we discuss the philosophy of contemporary Anglo-American law. As we have been debating many moral and legal issues, it has made me more curious about law in South Korea. Corruption is a common theme in many K-dramas, so many shows will have some legal aspect to it, which I have always been interested in. After doing some preliminary research about South Korea’s legal system, it appears to be very similar to that of the United States, as a civil law system that is based on a national Constitution. Last semester, I took “Introduction to American Government,” and something that we consistently discussed was how the Constitution was outdated and contained vague language that should be rewritten to be more applicable to today’s society. Although I have never read the Korean constitution, this made me wonder whether the Korean legal system was dealing with the same issue. Language is clearly not static and evolves over time, not only in the words it uses but the meanings of words as well.
To pursue this topic, I would definitely have to learn Korean legal terms and expand on my knowledge of Korean history, with a focus in government. Although those objectives are not explicitly stated in my learning plan, I am planning on learning about Korean history. Since this is my first semester going back to my Korean language learning, I wanted to use this time to get refamiliarized with the language before pursuing any specialized interests. However, since I am interested in pursuing a future career in health policy and incorporating my Korean into that, it will most likely become a future learning goal.
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