temporary permissible range, which was tightened compared to the KCC’s
previous decision requiring a limit of 60 percent deviation (in which case the
maximum permissible ratio between the most populous district and the least would
be four to one), the existence of an election district with a 57 percent deviation
from the national average was enough to nullify the total reapportionment plan.^17
However, the KCC applied a different permissible range of population in local
elections. In 2007 , the KCC ruled that considering the peculiarity of social
circumstances, such as unbalanced urbanization, as far as local elections are
concerned a limit of 60 percent deviation is acceptable.^18
Legal status of an independent commission established by Act
For the first time in Korean modern history, in 2001 , the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) was established to inspect civil liberties violations by state or
public institutions and discrimination in public agencies and private organizations.
Since its establishment, its constitutional or legal status has been inundated in
fierce debates about the desirable legal status and scope of powers between human
rights activists, who prefer an independent human rights commission with signifi-
cant executive powers, and the Ministry of Justice, who seek to have it as one of its
affiliated institutions with limited advisory powers.
The key issue in such debates is whether the establishment of an independent
administrative agency institutionally separate from the executive branch is compat-
ible with the Constitution. The advocates of an independent human rights agency
argued that the Constitution would not prohibit the creation of a statutory inde-
pendent agency for the completion of its basic goals, such as the protection of basic
rights. However, opponents argued that whatever good causes it pursues, such an
administrative agency should be installed within the executive branch to which the
executive power is entrusted. The compromised outcome of such debates was the
obscure provisions about the legal status of the NHRC. The NHRC Act contains
no explicit provision mentioning where the NHRC should be located in consti-
tutional arrangements, but declares in Article 3 the purpose of the establishment of
the NHRC and the principle of its independence in dealing with designated affairs.
As recently as 2009 , this obscurity finally backfired when the Ministry of Adminis-
tration and Security attempted to curtail the number of public officials allotted
to the NHRC by 21. 2 percent through revision of the relevant ordinance governing
the organization of the NHRC.
In a dispute before the KCC, the NHRC alleged that such revision constituted a
breach of its competence and thereby should be declared invalid. In a 6 – 3 decision
(^17) Constitutional Court Decision 2000 Hun-Ma 92 • 240 (consolidated), October 25 , 2001 ,
Korean Constitutional Court Reports, Vol. 13 ,No 2 , 502.
(^18) Constitutional Court Decision 2005 Hun-Ma 985 , March 29 , 2007 ,Korean Constitutional
Court Reports, Vol. 19 ,No 1 , 287.