Educational Objective and Concept of Talent

The educational objective of Dongguk University's College of Law is to train reasonable and competent democratic and law-abiding citizens who can play an active role in various fields of our society, including the legal, administrative, political and economic circles, and international organizations, through systematic legal education based on a wide range of humanistic knowledge.

- Cultivation of legal mind based on humanities
- Education on professional legal knowledge
- Creative/enterprising challenger
- Cultivation of democratic and law-abiding citizens

As the saying goes, “where there is society, there is law”, law is an essential norm for community society, and the state and society can be maintained and promote continuous development by legal order. This is why there is a constant and great need for law-abiding citizens with reasonable legal reasoning regardless of the university qualification examination system or training system for lawyers. People, who have a legal mind through legal education, will never try to resolve legal disputes that inevitably arise in a community based on the principle of scarcity of goods and services with emotions or collective power.

Those who have properly studied law contribute to the establishment of the constitutionalism and democracy by promoting the resolution of disputes in the community, no matter how difficult and complicated, through objective legal norms, which are the product of rationality, which leads to the outstanding national competitiveness of a sovereign country in global infinite competition.

Thus, the importance of legal education, which plays a role in directly nurturing democratic citizens and law-abiding citizens more than any other discipline, has been emphasized historically and will continue in the future. Therefore, properly teaching students who will become democratic and law-abiding citizens in the future and evenly producing them in all walks of life, including politics, economy, society, and culture, are not only the task of College of Law, but also a national task and responsibility, which will be the human base for realizing the 'rule of law'. Thus, our College of Law will keep providing responsible law education with pride and a sense of mission to realize constitutionalism and democracy in Korea and nurture talents who will support national competitiveness in the international community.

On the other hand, as the space of life expands and society develops along with the development of dazzling scientific civilization, law and jurisprudence are now transcending national borders. Therefore, learning and understanding of the traditional six basic laws are never enough. As the world becomes one neighbor, it can be said that it has become an essential duty of College of Law to nurture outstanding law students who can devise solutions through political analysis even for complex legal problems that cannot be solved only by the domestic laws of a single country.

Therefore, our College of Law is constantly striving to cultivate knowledge in humanities and social sciences, which are the basis of law as a comprehensive discipline, and to have the curriculum and faculty that enable the acquisition of professional legal knowledge established and developed along with globalization and the remarkable development of science and technology. Historically, in 1906, when the future of the nation was dark due to Japanese invasion, Dongguk University, a Buddhist university founded by Buddhist pioneers with the spirit of national patriotism through establishment of education, boasts the tradition of defending the country under the teachings of mercy and wisdom. In preparation for transnational security threats, Dongguk University College of Law also has national policy and security law courses to nurture talents who will continue the tradition of national defense.

For the above reasons, Dongguk University College of Law is well aware of its mission and task to faithfully fulfill the given tasks of the times regardless of the entry into law school or the maintenance or abolition of the bar exam. Currently, our university, the best College of Law in Korea, promises to faithfully carry out its mission as the mecca of law schools in Korea, and to make endless efforts so that outstanding talents entering Dongguk University College of Law can properly cultivate their legal mind and realize their dreams for the future and the world.

Legal intellectuals who respond to social demand based on their humanistic knowledge

- In addition to courses in the College of Law, such as Introduction to Law, Philosophy of Law, and Law and Justice, courses such as Logic or Introduction to Sociology, which are open in other departments such as the College of Social Sciences, are also recognized as interdisciplinary majors. Based on faithful humanities knowledge, students learn the governing ideology of the nation, the operating principles of the state and society, and the justification for guaranteeing basic rights, and a number of subjects to foster a sense of public duty and awareness of human rights are open, and practice courses are provided. 
- Major subjects: Philosophy of Law, Law and Justice, Law and Economics, Constitution 1 (Ideology), Constitution 2 (Government structure), Constitution 3 (Basic human rights), Administrative Law, International Human Rights Law, Social Security Law, Insurance Law, etc.

Education leading globalization – Creative / Enterprising challenger

- In-depth international legal education and various international relations laws and Special Act on Modern Society are open to provide a course to promote understanding and awareness of convergence legal disputes in which international politics and military security are combined, and the world economy and national security are intertwined.
- Major subjects: International Trade Law, International Negotiation Law, International Organization Law, International Human Rights Law, Environmental Law, National Intelligence Law, US Contract Law, etc.

Cultivation of democratic and law-abiding citizens

- A number of subjects are opened to cultivate students' sense of public duty and awareness of human rights by learning the operating principles of society, the justification for guaranteeing basic rights, and the necessity and importance of contracts in a community society and to allow them to understand the value of the law.
- Major subjects: Constitution, Administrative Law, various Civil and Commercial Laws, Public Official Election Act, Local Government Act, etc.

About Department (Major)

Since the opening of the Department of Law in the Faculty of Politics and Economics in 1949, the Department of Law, College of Law, Dongguk University was separated into the Department of Law, College of Law and Politics in 1953, and was launched independently as the College of Law in 1988. In line with the development of the times, it has been leading the study of law and nurturing and producing excellent lawyers. As shown above, the history of Dongguk College of Law has been in line with that of Korean law since the constitutional government, and the talents produced by our university have been performing excellent activities as leaders or volunteers in the National Assembly, the executive branch, the judicial branch, and various areas of society until today's Korean society has made remarkable progress, and is also playing a leading role in legal studies.

Recent Trends and Prospects of the Studies

Jurisprudence, a study that studies law, can be divided into practical law to resolve legal disputes that actually occurred in the community, and theoretical law (basic law) that aims to study the legal norm itself, such as the nature and ideology of law. It is undeniable that jurisprudence in Korea has been criticized for staying in conceptual law as a result of neglecting social problems and legal reality and focusing mainly on legal studies and as an examination law that has been degraded as an exam subject to pass the bar exam. However, law is an essential norm for maintaining community order, and the understanding and practice of the law by members of society are the basis for the existence of the community.

Conversely, ordinary citizens, who are members of the community, need legal knowledge in various fields in order to lead a happy and valuable life in a community society where numerous interests may collide and to enhance their character. In order for any group, organization, nation, or society not to fall behind and be a social outcast in infinite competition, the sustainable competitiveness is the basis for their existence and development. As shown in the human history, however, countries and societies where the rule of law was developed and faithfully followed developed, while those that failed to do so declined. Therefore, the value of jurisprudence was strict regardless of the era and the East and the West. As the remarkably developed scientific and technological civilization rapidly brings the world closer, and the emergence of the cyber world, such as the Internet, enables real-time information retrieval, legal disputes in modern society with a deluge of information, are extremely different from those of the past industrialization era or the Cold War Era.

Thus, modern law is constantly evolving and transforming while creating a new area of professional law that encompasses domestic and international law based on the six basic laws. Therefore, lawyers who aim to rationally analyze and resolve complex legal disputes in communities, such as the state, cannot properly understand the law and can never resolve legal disputes in modern society simply by knowing the law in a sectional and disjointed way, including public law, private law, social law, domestic law, and international law according to the traditional classification of laws.

As a result, lawyers in modern society need convergent knowledge and humanistic wisdom, and do not have the luxury of saying, for example, "I know civil law but not criminal law, or I know national law but not international law.“ Jurisprudence is a purpose-oriented discipline for dispute resolution, and under no circumstances can it remain only in theoretical law in the ivory tower. This is why practical legal education through the combination of theory and practice, as well as the basic theory of law that corresponds to the development of each field such as politics, economy, society, and culture, and subsequent methodological research on the interpretation of positive law is required.

Thus, Dongguk College of Law, the best law school in Korea, will calmly identify these problems and trends in law, nurture lawyers according to the remarkable changes in the legal environment, constantly check the curriculum so that they can easily adapt to the country and all walks of life, and reflect necessary areas from time to time so that they can be outstanding pillars.

Areas of Career and Employment

Traditionally, law students have prepared for various state examinations such as bar examination, Public Administration Examination, and Foreign Service Examination, and have also been employed by companies that require legal knowledge. In addition, some of the graduates went on to general graduate schools and law schools to design a variety of career paths through intensive law study. However, it is a harsh reality that changes in the legal environment, such as changes in the bar exam and settlement in law schools, have a great impact on the career paths of law students. Thus, legal education only for passing the bar exam should now be avoided. Paradoxically, the influence of Korean law schools, which have extremely limited admission quotas, significantly reduced the number of legal manpower, which is expected to cause a significant gap between demand and supply in legal services in the future, emerging as a social problem.

In summary, the fields in which law majors can enter are limitless: Lawyers, certified public accountants, notary’s offices, financial teams or legal affairs teams of public institutions such as administrative agencies, banks, insurance companies, corporate legal teams, legal magazine publishers, shipping business or shipping customer companies (shipping company, customs clearance agent, shipping agency, international forwarder, maritime legal affairs manager, maritime appraiser, marine insurer, land transport and air transport assistant, international trading and transport managers, logistics manager, airline company, air transport related companies (customs clearance cargo handler, transport assistant, travel agency, aircraft manufacturer, accounting office), employees of appraisal agencies, judicial police officers, gendarmerie, judicial officials, administrative officers in charge of correctional administration and judicial protection of juveniles, public officials related to crime prevention in counties, towns, and villages, customs and tax office staff, international organization staff, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc.

In conclusion, Dongkuk College of Law expects graduates to go to law schools at home and abroad, and become public leaders (public officials, legislative aides, local councils, international organizations, NGOs), and legal practitioners (government-invested institutions or corporate legal offices, obtaining nationally recognized licenses, etc.), and will support students who have successfully completed the bachelor's course of Dongkuk College of Law to go that way more easily than any other majors. Of course, Dongkuk College of Law will fulfill its mission of nurturing democratic and law-abiding citizens and training legal intellectuals.

Professors

교수소개

Name	Picture	Major	Final degree school	E-mail
Dong-Wook Kang		Criminal law	Hanyang Univ.	dwkang@dongguk.edu
Hun-Jong Lee		Commercial law	Hanyang Univ.	hjlee@dongguk.edu
Jong-Pill Byun		Criminal law	Korea Univ.	jpbyun@dongguk.edu
Bong-Seok Choi		Administrative law	Leibniz Univ. Hannover	choibs@dongguk.edu
Chang-Ryeol Choi		Civil law	Sungkyunkwan Univ.	sein79@dongguk.edu
Do-Hyun Kim		Basic law	Seoul National Univ.	nomos@dongguk.edu
MI-Young Oh		International law	Kobe Univ.	miyoh7@dongguk.edu
Kyung-Jae Kim		Constitutional law	Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Univ.Bonn	goldeconomy@hanmail.net
Kye-Won Seo		Intellectual property	Seoul National Univ.	skwon@dongguk.edu
Gyeo-Cheol Lim		Law of Science and technology	Trier Univ.	limg2201@dongguk.edu
Yong-Joong Lee		International law	Erasmus University Rotterdam	grotian@dongguk.edu
Jae-Sun Kim		Administrative law	Korea Univ.	jaeskim@dongguk.edu
Dae-Un Hong		Criminal law	Cornell Univ.	fortune77@dgu.ac.kr
Sunki, Hong		Public law	Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg	sungihong@hanmail.net
Seung-Hyun Lee		Civil law	Sungkyunkwan Univ.	lshhs23@dongguk.edu

Contact Us

• Address: Dongguk University College of Law, 26 Pil-dong 3ga, Chung-gu, Seoul 04620 KOREA
• Webpage: http://law.dongguk.edu
• Tel: +82-2-2260-3742, Fax: +82-2-2260-3941