The right to deinstitutionalisation for PwD in South Korea

The seminar series in Jurisprudence at the Department of Law, Stockholm University, welcomes to a seminar with Woon-Young Kim, doctoral student in the Department of Law at Handong Global University.

Seminar

Date:

Tuesday 28 January 2025

Time:

10.00 – 12.00

Location:

Faculty Room, Department of Law, Stockholm University

Speaker:

Woon-Young Kim is a doctoral student in the Department of Law at Handong Global University. His 2023 master’s thesis focused on the right to deinstitutionalization for persons with disabilities in South Korea, examining institutionalization trends in Korean disability policy, identifying key challenges, and proposing legislative and policy solutions. He is affiliated with the Korea Disability Forum (KDF) and currently serves as a research intern at the Validity Foundation, a disability rights advocacy organization based in Budapest, Hungary.

Description:

The current disability (welfare) policies in South Korea exhibit a strong institutionalization tendency, whereby citizens with disabilities are subjected to long-term (often lifelong) institutionalization through a series of legal procedures. This process constructs a body that is exempt from the legal ideals of freedom and equality, such as full social participation, integration, and independent living.

Interestingly, in the Korean context, this institutionalization of persons with disabilities was historically reinforced during the mid-20th century in the aftermath of the Korean War, amidst the reconstruction efforts and the strengthening of welfare state ideals.

Today, the resulting "citizen body" is increasingly defined as an "impossible existence"—a "citizen/body incapable of independence"—within the arenas of various political and legislative contests. In other words, individuals who, due to their disabilities, require greater rights to care and assistance are instead isolated from those rights for extended periods (often their entire lives), reducing them to exceptions to the right to care and support.

This presentation examines the current state and challenges of South Korea’s institutionalization policies for persons with disabilities, while also exploring legislative and policy efforts to address these issues and their inherent limitations.

RSVP:

Kindly confirm your attendance to: Catrinel.florea@juridicum.su.se by Monday 27, 2025.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Mauro Zamboni & Torben Spaa