South Korea's Laws Mired in Obscurity: A Call to Fix 'Shabby Law Books' Riddled with Errors

South Korea's foundational laws are a linguistic mess, riddled with errors and awkward phrasing that create barriers to public understanding. A recent book, 'Correct the Six Laws Now,' highlights how terms like '보류하다' (to retain) in the Civil Code are mistranslations of Japanese legal terms, meaning something entirely different from their common Korean usage.

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When the seller reserves the right to repurchase at the same time as the sales contract, they can repurchase the object by returning the price received and the sales expenses borne by the buyer.

Similarly, the Commercial Code uses '유지할' (to maintain) with the opposite meaning of its standard definition, stemming from the Japanese term '留止' (to stop). The article points out numerous other errors, from simple typos like '받어' instead of '받아' to more complex grammatical issues in the Constitution itself, such as the incorrect use of '붙일' instead of '부칠' following a 1988 revision of Korean orthography rules.

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A shareholder holding shares equivalent to 1/100 or more of the total number of issued shares can request the director to maintain the action for the company.

The book's author, Kim Se-jung, a former researcher at the National Institute of Korean Language, argues that these flaws stem from the post-Korean War legal experts' heavy reliance on Japanese law and their inadequate grasp of Korean. Despite some revision efforts, legislative inertia and resistance from legal professionals have prevented necessary corrections.

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The president may, when deemed necessary, put important policies concerning diplomacy, defense, unification, and other national security matters to a national referendum.

Kim asserts that a nation's legal framework is its bedrock, and when its language is flawed, the nation itself is weakened. He calls for a national movement to rectify these "shabby law books," likening the task to post-war national reconstruction, emphasizing that a nation's strength is intrinsically tied to the clarity and accuracy of its laws.

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When the net assets currently existing in the company are insufficient for the total amount of capital stock...