2024 Volume 23 Pages 1-33
In 2020, South Korea amended its Personal Information Protection Act to introduce the regulation of “pseudonymized information”, a concept similar to “pseudonymized personal information” under Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information. This amendment faced constitutional challenges from several civic groups, arguing that it violates the constitutional “right to self-determination of personal information”. In 2021, the Constitutional Research Institute of the Constitutional Court of Korea published a report suggesting the possibility of unconstitutionality. However, in October 2023, the Constitutional Court dismissed these complaints, upholding the amendment’s constitutionality.
This paper examines the perception of the “right to self-determination of personal information” in South Korean law and its apparent contradiction with the regulation of “pseudonymized information”, focusing on the issues raised in the Constitutional Research Institute’s report. It then analyzes the Constitutional Court’s reasoning in declaring the amendment constitutional. Furthermore, the paper draws a comparison with the relationship between “pseudonymized personal information” and the theory of the “right to control one’s own personal information” under Japanese law, highlighting the challenges that remain in both legal systems.
