New to Korean Law
Korean law in plain words, for the people it is newest to.
For students who have not learned it yet, and for migrants who live in Korea without ever having learned its law. Explained by a student, in English, and compared with the places we will go next.
Founded by Jaein Han
Try the 1-minute quiz: Can I record this?Idem est non esse et non probari.
To not exist and to not be proven are the same. ยท a Latin legal maxim
One question, four ways in
When they are harmed, do they know what the law allows them to do, and can they prove it? Each project takes on that question at a different step.
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Step 1Find the data1 of 3 replies in
Reporting without fear
Information disclosure requests to three ministries: how often are migrant crime victims actually spared from being reported to immigration?
ResearchingBorn here, not on record
How children born in Korea to foreign parents get registered at birth, and who falls through the gaps.
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Step 2Explain the law
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Step 3Give a toolPrototype
Bom Notes
A private, multilingual rights guide and evidence logbook for marriage-migrant women in Korea.
It keeps no record of who visits or what they write, by design. Its reach is counted through the support organizations that share it.
โ๋ด์ด ์ฌ ๊ฑฐ์์โ ยท Spring will come -
Step 4Change the rulePetition in preparation
Petition: reporting without fear
Asking that migrant crime victims be able to go to the police without being reported to immigration.
WritingLetter: born here, not on record
A public letter on birth registration for children of foreign parents, for the Pulitzer Center's Local Letters for Global Change.
The series
Our series for students: real questions teens ask, answered for Seoul, New York and London. New episodes are on the way.
Can I record that?
Secret recordings: when they are legal, and when they count as evidence.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐Read now โIs a screenshot proof?
KakaoTalk, DMs and group chats: what makes a capture hold up.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐Can I film it?
Photos and video as evidence, and when filming is itself a crime.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐Does a doctor's note count?
Medical records, and why what you tell the doctor matters.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐What happens when I call 112?
The records a police call leaves behind, here and abroad.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐Does my diary count?
Notes and timelines: writing it down the right way.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐Will my friend's word help?
Witnesses and written statements.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐What should I never do?
Evidence you must never collect, and how it backfires.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐Where does my evidence go?
School hearings, courts and immigration: who sees it.
๐ฐ๐ท๐ฝ๐What gets measured
These numbers start at zero and update as each step happens. Only completed work is counted.
Progress, in order
Chose the project's focus: legal literacy for teens and for migrant women, built around evidence.
Filed information disclosure requests with three ministries on the reporting exemption for migrant crime victims, and received the first official reply.
Published Episode 1 of Korean Law for Teens, โCan I record that?โ: when secret recordings are legal and when they count as evidence, with two quizzes and a card news version.
Designed the first Bom Notes card in Korean, English, Vietnamese and Chinese, and built the Bom Notes prototype.
Why I started
I spent four years in Hong Kong, where the law grew out of English common law, before moving back to Korea, where it follows the civil-law tradition. I did not study either system then, but I noticed that the same question could get a different answer depending on where you stood.
At school I kept seeing the same thing in small ways: people got into trouble not because they meant to do wrong, but because they did not know the rule. Friends from other countries ate snacks on the MTR without realizing it was against the law in Hong Kong.
A snack on a train is a small thing. Not knowing whether you may record a threat, or whether reporting a crime could cost you your visa, is not. New to Korean Law started from that gap between what the law says and what people know.
Jaein Han is a high school student in Seoul. She founded New to Korean Law, writes the Korean Law for Teens series, and builds legal literacy tools for migrant communities.