Dr. Tae-Ung Baik, former Director of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii, joins the Global Korea Project to discuss human rights and transitional justice in Korea with a focus on implementing UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Abstract

South Korea is known for its comprehensive efforts to promote transitional justice. Various truth commissions dealing with past human rights violations and atrocities have been established including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Republic of Korea. The issue of enforced disappearance has not been widely discussed in Korean context, but Korea is not an exception to the serious human rights problems. Many cases of enforced disappearances related to South Korea have been filed with UN mechanisms including cases of the POW in the 1950s, abductees in the 1960s and 1970s. South Korean National Assembly ratified the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED) in 2023. The CED ratification demonstrates that Korea is trying to follow international standards. However, the legislation of an implementation law is being delayed. The speaker will talk about South Korea’s efforts to deal with the past and key elements of the implementation legislation for CED to further transitional justice in Korea.

Dr. Tae-Ung Baik 

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Dr. Tae-Ung Baik is a Professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law. He served the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) as Chair-Rapporteur (2020-2021), Vice-Chair (2018-2020), and Member (2015-2022). He was also Director of the Center for Korean Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa until recently (2018-2024). He received his Bachelor of Law degree from Seoul National University College of Law and earned his master's (LL.M.) and doctoral (J.S.D.) degrees from Notre Dame Law School. He is admitted to the Bar as an attorney-at-law in the State of New York. He is currently on sabbatical as a visiting scholar at Korea University Law School. He teaches international human rights law, comparative law, and human rights in Asia. His publications include Seeking Human Rights Community in Asia (Changbi, 2017) and Recommendations for a Ratification of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 189 Justice 541 (2022).