Legal Reform – YEWON KIM

In Activities

Why Tougher Child‑Abuse Laws May Backfire: A Public‑Interest Lawyer’s Warning

April 17, 2026 No Comments

2021.01.07 10:17

In the wake of the widely publicized Jeong‑in child‑abuse case, the National Assembly rushed forward with more than a dozen bills proposing stiffer penalties and mandatory immediate separation of children after two abuse reports. Kim Ye‑won, a public‑interest lawyer who has worked with child and youth victims, cautions that many of these measures—some of which mirror amendments already passed—are politically popular but could do more harm than good if enacted without careful design.

Kim’s core concern is that raising statutory maximums or especially minimum sentences changes how prosecutors and judges handle cases: higher potential penalties increase the evidentiary bar for conviction, encouraging prosecutors to decline to indict weakly evidenced cases and prompting judges to demand stronger proof, which can result in more dismissals or acquittals. She points to recent experience in cases of sexual violence against people with disabilities, where tougher penalties coincided with reduced prosecution rates, and warns that heavier punishment regimes also prolong and intensify trauma for victims through repeated, invasive questioning. She also flags mandatory “immediate separation” policies as problematic—both because some versions are redundant with recent law changes and because blunt removal rules can have unintended consequences for children and families.

Rather than headline-grabbing sentencing hikes, Kim recommends targeted, practitioner‑informed reforms: revise and strengthen judicial sentencing guidelines (양형 기준) so courts impose appropriate punishments in practice; invest in investigative capacity, evidence collection, and victim‑centered procedures to secure convictions without retraumatizing victims; and design statutory changes in consultation with front‑line child‑welfare and legal professionals. Her message is a cautionary one: symbolic or politically reactive bills risk nullifying public attention and may fail victims unless lawmakers focus on effective, evidence‑based fixes.

Original source: [인터뷰] 학대아동 지원 변호사 “이런 법안이면 정인이 얼굴 공개된 값어치 없다” (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)

In Activities

Visually Impaired Lawyer Turns Personal Injury into a Lifelong Fight for Marginalized Victims

April 17, 2026 No Comments

2020.04.11. 03:23
Kim Ye-won is a visually impaired public-interest lawyer who founded the Disability Rights Law Center in 2017. After completing judicial training in 2012, she worked at a major law firm’s public foundation and the Seoul Disability Rights Center before striking out on her own to provide broader, needs-based legal help. Born blind in one eye as a result of a forceps delivery, she says discovering the medical cause of her disability reinforced her belief that the law is the most precise tool to address injustice.

Kim provides pro bono representation to disabled people, women and children, taking cases regardless of location or the perceived likelihood of success. She has spoken out about repeat patterns of sexual exploitation — including the Telegram “nth room” crimes — and handled high-profile abuse cases such as confinement and extortion at care homes in Wonju and Hongcheon. Known for dramatic courtroom advocacy, she even removed her prosthetic eye during a trial to urge the harshest penalty for a child’s attacker. Beyond litigation, she actively researches rights issues and seeks out victims through media reports as well as formal referrals.

Kim argues that legal reform must lead social change: stronger laws and systems will shift public perception. She highlights ongoing discrimination, such as refusal to allow assisted voting for people with intellectual disabilities, and condemns outdated attitudes that portray exploited women as complicit rather than victims. While she downplays any singular sense of vocation, she hopes her sustained legal work will create broader social resonance and improved protections for minorities.

Original source: “난 시각장애인… 도움 필요한 소수자 위해 변호사 됐다” (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)

In Activities

There Are No ‘Fake Rights’: How Lawyer Kim Ye-won Fights for Disability Justice from Courtroom to Church

April 17, 2026 No Comments

2018.11.21 19:45
Kim Ye-won is a South Korean public-interest lawyer who devotes her long, demanding days to representing people with disabilities. A medical accident left her blind in one eye at birth, which helped inspire her decision to become a lawyer to speak for socially vulnerable people who often lack knowledge or resources to challenge injustice. She founded the Disability Rights Law Center after working at public institutions and has handled over a thousand cases while balancing family life, even bringing her infant to court when childcare options were unavailable.

Her work goes beyond individual litigation: she combines client representation with research, education, and systemic advocacy to close legal blind spots. Kim drafts manuals, publishes studies on disability-rights advocacy, and pushes for law reform when existing statutes fail to address emerging harms — for example, ensuring that victims with disabilities are properly identified so crimes such as sexual assault are charged with appropriate severity, and calling attention to “grooming” and other abuses that remain inadequately covered by current law.

Faith and vocation intersect in her practice. A lifelong Christian, Kim sees her legal work as an expression of lay ministry and the church’s historical role as a movement of the laity reclaiming rights and duties. Confronting abusive practices within religious institutions tested her resolve, but it also reinforced her commitment to pursue justice professionally and spiritually — a mission recognized by awards and public recognition as she continues to push for both individual relief and systemic change.

Original source: “‘가짜 인권’은 없다, ‘가짜 사람’이 없듯이” (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)

In Activities

When “Immediate Separation” Hurts: Why Korea’s Child‑Removal Policy Fails Vulnerable Kids

April 17, 2026 No Comments

2021.08.05 06:29
Kim Ye-won, head of the Disability Rights Law Center, argues that Korea’s new “immediate separation” policy—which allows authorities to remove a child after two reports of abuse—was rushed through after the Jeong‑in case and is structurally flawed. While child abuse must be punished, the law concentrates on punishment and ad hoc removals without legal safeguards: key procedures are left to unpublished manuals, decisions are made on the spot by police or social workers, there is little prospect of judicial review or predictable timelines, and accountability is unclear.

The policy often sidelines the child’s voice and wellbeing. Kim stresses that removal can be necessary and stabilizing in violent or neglectful homes, but current practice rarely verifies what the child wants or explains decisions in child‑appropriate language. The result can be new trauma rather than protection. The system also disproportionately affects poor, marginalized, or migrant families—those without resources to contest removals—while wealthier families can evade consequences, creating a de facto class bias and a harmful social message about who should be allowed to parent.

To fix this, Kim calls for legal and procedural reform: restore judicial oversight or clear statutory limits, publish transparent protocols, guarantee predictable timelines and avenues for appeal, and legally require child‑centered practices such as age‑appropriate explanations and measures that preserve safe emotional bonds with caregivers. Adequate funding, oversight, and formalized methods for eliciting and recording children’s wishes are essential so that protection means more than mere removal and truly safeguards children’s dignity and long‑term wellbeing.

Original source: “가난하고 못 배웠으면 애 낳지 말란 신호 같아” (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)

In Activities

Everyone’s Flowers Bloomed: A Lawyer Uses Film to Illuminate Disability Rights

April 17, 2026 No Comments

2019.03.18 09:30
Kim Ye-won, a public-interest lawyer and well-known disability rights activist, has published a new book collecting her advocacy stories entitled “누구나 꽃이 피었습니다” (Everyone’s Flowers Bloomed). Known for powerful public images—like taking her baby to court—Kim draws on her experiences supporting disabled clients to reveal everyday injustices and the human side of legal work. The book foregrounds real cases and the people behind them, presented in accessible, narrative form for general readers.

A distinctive feature of the book is how Kim uses scenes from popular films as entry points to discuss legal and social issues. For example, she links the sloth workers in Zootopia to the labor realities faced by people with developmental disabilities and uses a scene from the film Marathon to explore barriers to judicial access for disabled individuals. Beyond individual cases, the author explains how to support and advocate for social minorities and details her involvement in both casework and systemic reform efforts.

Kim’s aim was to make rights-focused stories approachable—even for readers who aren’t film fans—by highlighting everyday human rights dilemmas and practical advocacy lessons. She hopes readers take away a simple but powerful message: like flowers that differ in color and scent, diverse people are each inherently dignified. The book offers both compassionate storytelling and concrete insights for activists, legal professionals, and any reader interested in social justice.

Original source: [법조계 신간 엿보기]누구나 꽃이 피었습니다 (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)

In Activities

How South Korea’s ‘검수완박’ Could Tie Prosecutors’ Hands: 20 Alarming Examples

April 17, 2026 No Comments

On April 26–27, lawyer Kim Yewon of the Center for the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities publicly criticized the 검수완박 (complete removal of prosecutors’ investigative powers) bill passed by a National Assembly subcommittee. She flagged a clause limiting prosecutors to investigating only facts “within the same scope” as those transferred from police, calling it a “fatal poison clause,” and urged lawmakers to remove that restriction at least for prosecutors’ supplementary investigations.

Using 20 concrete examples, Kim illustrated how the identicality restriction would block investigations that develop beyond the original charge: a child-abuse probe that uncovers sexual crimes; a stalker’s phone revealing child sexual exploitation material; small fraud cases that reveal hundreds of victims or a far larger Ponzi scheme; identifying ringleaders while investigating low-level money collectors; confessions or evidence of additional thefts, murders or bribery uncovered during unrelated probes; and cases where criminal leads point to espionage, cross-border technology leakage, or organized drug manufacture and distribution. She warned these limits would prevent prosecutors from following logical investigative leads even when public safety or national security is at stake.

Kim’s examples underline a broader concern that the proposed law could create investigative gaps, impede accountability, and complicate responses to evolving criminal networks. Her plea frames the restriction not as a technicality but as a substantive risk to effective law enforcement, pressing lawmakers to amend the bill to preserve prosecutors’ ability to pursue related or newly revealed offenses during supplementary investigations.

Original source: 검수완박 되면 못하는 20가지…”아동학대 수사 중 성폭력 확인돼도 수사 불가” (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)