On October 27, 2020, Hyeong Jun Hwang, a member of Kim & Chang’s Environment Practice, spoke as a panelist at the Forum and International Conference for the 40th Anniversary of Environmental Rights hosted by the Ministry of Environment (the “MOE”) with the Korea Environmental Institute and Korean Environmental Law Association.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the introduction of environmental rights into Korea’s Constitution and establishment of an independent environmental agency, the MOE has been organizing a series of forums since last June. The forum and conference on October 27, 2020 was held on the topic of “Present and Future of Environmental Rights” to discuss how to strengthen environmental rights.
Mr. Hwang participated as a panelist in the event’s international conference session called “Paradigm Shift of Constitutional Environmental Rights and the Future of Environmental Rights.” Mr. Hwang suggested, “In terms of guaranteeing a clearer constitutional protection of the environment, it would be possible and ideal to additionally introduce a scheme of objective legal regulations while maintaining the existing constitutional environmental rights. If the Constitution were to be amended, it would also be ideal to specify the ‘philosophy of sustainability’ and the ‘responsibility to protect the environment for the future generations’.” He also stated that additional caution needs to be taken in implementing principles applicable to environmental laws (such as the principle of precaution and principle of polluters paying) into the Constitution.
