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A Civil Act provision on the disciplinary rights of parents is poised to be struck from the books after 62 years. Amid a series of high-profile cases involving severe child abuse, many observers have argued that the disciplinary action rights provision may be misconstrued as granting parents corporal punishment rights.

On Aug. 4, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said it was “an administrative pre-announcement of legislation for a partial amendment of the Civil Act to clearly indicate the prohibition of corporal punishment through deletion of the ‘right to take disciplinary action’ in Article 915.” Created at the time of the law’s enactment in 1958, Article 915 states that a “person of parental authority may, in order to protect or educate his or her child, take necessary disciplinary action against the child, and may entrust such child to a reformatory or correctional institution upon the approval of the court.”

The MOJ said it “hopes that clearly indicating the prohibition of corporal punishment by the Civil Act will contribute to improving social attitudes toward child abuse and a child-raising environment that centers on the child’s rights.”

The MOJ’s pre-announcement of legislation that day is being seen as marking a step forward from the recommendation of the Committee for Legislative Improvements for Inclusive Family Culture, which was made public in May. At the time, the committee submitted a recommendation to the MOJ that included substituting the term “necessary disciplinary action” with “necessary disciplinary education” in referring to parental rights.

As recently as the time of a UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommendation last year for the prohibition of all corporal punishment, including parental disciplinary action, the MOJ had indicated its reluctance to take direction action, saying only that it would “consider refining the term ‘disciplinary’ action or establish limits.” But with the parents implicated in recent high-profile child abuse cases arguing that they had engaged in “corporal punishment for the purpose of disciplinary education,” the MOJ appears to have concluded that it needed to more clearly state the ban on corporal punishment.

The MOJ amendment to the Civil Act is set to go before the National Assembly after an advance legislative notice period extending through Sept. 14. The MOJ’s plan is expected to be discussed alongside four other planned amendments already presented in the National Assembly, including one that would substitute “disciplinary action” with “disciplinary education.”

By Choi Ha-yan and Kim Jeong-pil, staff reporters

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