Eighty Years of Religious Liberty in Korea

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The Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center (University of Texas School of Law), The Institute for Transnational Law (University of Texas School of Law), The Mattone Center for Law & Religion (St. John’s University School of Law), and The University of Seoul Law School (Seoul, Korea) are jointly hosting an academic conference comparing the history (since 1945) and current state of religious liberty law in Korea and the United States. This symposium comes at what is approximately the eightieth anniversary of religious freedom in Korea in the modern era.

Panels:

• The first will explore the formation of modern religious liberty law in each country during the middle of the twentieth century. The United States did not start applying its federal constitutional religion clauses fully until the mid-1940’s. And after World War II and the Korean War, the United States played a major role in instilling the same principles in Korea. Thus, both countries set forth on their current legal regimes at roughly the same time.
• The second will explore the current state of religious freedom law in each country.
• The third will provide an opportunity for religious leaders to explain their own religious tradition’s journey in each country given its religious freedom laws.

Interpreters will be provided for English speakers.

Participants

From the United States:

1. Mark Movsesian, the Frederick A. Whitney Professor of Contract Law and Director of the Mattone Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University School of Law.
2. Lauren Fielder, Assistant Dean for Graduate & International Programs and Senior Lecturer at the University of Texas School of Law, and the director of The Institute for Transnational Law.
3. Frank Ravitch, the Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion at Michigan State University College of Law and the Director of MSU’s Kyoto Japan Program.
4. Steven T. Collis, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law and the faculty director of the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center and its Law & Religion Clinic. Immediate Past Chair of the Association of American Law Schools Law & Religion Section.

From Korea:

1. Keynote Speaker: Young Joon Kwon, Korean Supreme Court Justice 
2. 김재영 (Chae Young Kim): Chae Young Kim is Qilu Visting Residence Visiting Scholar in Shandong University, China and Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies in Sogang University, Seoul, Korea. He served as president for Korean Association for Religious Studies from 2014-2015. At the moment, he participates in a network building of young scholars’ association of religious studies in East Asia and also serves as an editorial board member in international journals, Religion and British Journal of Religious Education.  He is the translator of William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study of Human Nature and Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death into Korean. He also published Korean books and articles on inter-religous/inter-cutural dialogue, psychology of religion, religious education, and contemporary religious experience and human dignity issues in Korea and beyond.
3. 백은석 (Eunseok Paik) (Handong University Law School)
4. 김희정 (Hee-Jeong Kim): Professor Hee-Jeong Kim is a Professor at the School of Knowledge Convergence, Chungnam National University, specializing in Constitutional Law and Public Law Theory. Her research focuses on constitutional pluralism and the rule of law, the interaction between national constitutional identity and supranational legal orders, and the evolving nature of fundamental rights in contemporary democracies. Her recent scholarship examines the constitutional development of religious freedom and the principle of church–state separation in the United States, the rise of climate litigation as a form of constitutional activism, and the theoretical limits of European constitutional pluralism. Beyond academia, Professor Kim serves as a Member of the Civil and Political Rights Committee of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, a Conflict Mediation Commissioner at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, and a Member of the Administrative Sanction Review Committee of the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency. Through these positions, she contributes to bridging academic theory and public policy, advancing human rights protection and ethical constitutional governance.
5. 김연식 (Younsik Kim): Professor Younsik Kim is a Professor of Constitutional Law at Sungshin Women’s University and previously served as a Research Officer at the Constitutional Research Institute of the Constitutional Court of Korea. He received his LL.B. and LL.M from Korea University, his LL.M. from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in Law from the University of Edinburgh. His research interests encompass the relationship between international law and constitutional law—with a focus on international investment law—as well as legislative studies, constitutional theory, and comparative constitutional law, particularly within the context of the United Kingdom. He also explores the sociology of law through the lens of social systems theory, examining how legal structures function and evolve within complex social systems.
6. Musang Beophyeon: Venerable Musang Beophyeon is a Buddhist monk and scholar whose work integrates science and Buddhist philosophy. Ordained in 1985, he graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Chung-Ang University and completed master’s and doctoral coursework in Applied Buddhism at Dongguk University. He has served as Executive Director of the Korean Buddhist Orders Association and Deputy Director of the Korean Buddhist Taego Order Headquarters, and now leads Yeollin Seonwon (Open Temple). His writings explore Buddhist thought and ecology, including The Dhammapada with Ven. Beophyeon and Like a Plum Blossom That Does Not Sell Its Fragrance Even in the Cold.
7. Yonghae Kim: Professor Yonghae Kim, a Catholic priest and leading scholar in social philosophy and ethics, earned advanced degrees from Sogang University in Seoul, Korea, Leopold University in Austria, and the Hochschule für Philosophie in Munich S.J., where he completed his Ph.D. on human dignity and human rights. At Sogang University, he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Theology, Director of the Institute for Life and Culture, and Chair of the Bioethics Committee, while also contributing to organizations such as the Purme Foundation and the Korea-Germany Relations Committee. A prolific author, Father Kim has published extensively on human rights, ethics, interreligious dialogue, pilgrimage spirituality, posthumanism, and peace studies, with notable works including Viator, The Philosophy of Human Dignity, and Ethics in the Era of Globalization. He retired in 2025, leaving a lasting legacy in philosophy, ethics, and theology.