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Recommendation on Abolition of Social Protection Act and Preparation of Alternative Bill for Treatment Restrictions [2004] KRNHRC 13 (1 January 2004)

The Preventive Custody System under the Social Protection Act is a typical extra-judicial
custody system. The system was instituted when a new military regime came into power in
1980. Since the enactment of the Act, the system has been a subject of constant
controversy with regard to human rights violations because of problems arising in the
process of its application, such as mistreatment of detainees, and questions as to whether it
violates the principle of double jeopardy. The Commission organized the Social Protection
Act TFT in 2003 to conduct a survey of the Preventive Custody System and devise
measures to improve it.

The TFT found that the many aspects of the Preventive Restrictive System served to
compromise the dignity of individuals and denigrate them, and to violate the freedoms and
rights recognized by the Constitution, other laws of Korea, and international human rights
treaties. The Commission issued a recommendation to the National Assembly and the
Ministry of Justice calling for the abolition of the system.

The Preventive Custody System under the Social Protection Act has never fulfilled its
raison d'être as a social system. Given the reality of how the preventive custody system
works at present, the Commission found the system too flawed to even be reformed and,
therefore, recommended that the Social Protection Act be repealed and that an alternative
legal system be established for the Remedial Custody System.