2019.12.02 08:00
Kim Ye-won is a public-interest lawyer who turned a personal disability and long career in public law into a mission to defend Korea’s most overlooked people. Born with a medical accident that cost her one eye, Kim passed the bar in 2009, worked at public-interest organizations including Dongcheon and the Seoul Disability Rights Center, and in 2017 founded a one-person nonprofit law center to take on cases nationwide. A busy mother of three, she says she is not “nice” by temperament — a quality she considers necessary for sustained legal fights on behalf of vulnerable clients.
Her Disability Rights Law Center focuses on people with little or no social support — orphans, basic livelihood recipients, children from single-parent homes and others left to suffer abuse or exploitation. The center does not charge fees and selects cases where institutional help is absent. Kim emphasizes accompaniment and empowerment rather than a savior role: building long-term trust, helping victims recognize their situation, and enabling them to become the subjects of their own cases. Small breakthroughs — from choosing a snack freely to asserting personal dignity — mark the meaningful progress she seeks.
Beyond individual cases, Kim pursues systemic change through litigation and law reform. She successfully pushed for stronger prosecution in a sexual-assault case involving a deaf woman, advocated for allowing visually impaired people to attempt a Class 1 driving test, and called for mandatory CCTV in special schools after a child’s unexplained death. Balancing casework, policy advocacy and family life, Kim attributes her stamina to practical determination and the support of her husband while continuing to press for rights and protections for disabled people nationwide.
Original source: 한쪽 눈 잃었지만, 더 큰 세상보는 눈을 가진 변호사 – 머니투데이 (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)
