Professor Kang delivering the lecture. Photographed by Nam Eun Seo.

On January 30, a special lecture titled “Understanding Criminal Law” was held at the CJ Creator Library (CCL) Event Hall at Central Plaza. The special lecture was hosted by the Korea University (KU) Center for Teaching and Learning. The lecture aimed to give students an opportunity to experience offline the course titled “Introduction to Korean Criminal Law Open to the World,” a new online course held by the Korean Massive Open Online Course (K-MOOC).

The lecture began with Professor Kang Soo-jin (School of Law) introducing a hypothetical case study on voice phishing. Focusing mainly on the applicability of criminal system theory, Professor Kang demonstrated how to establish the criminality of a situation with regards to different people involved in the case study. She established the criminality of the case study through a three-step methodology: establishing the elements of crime, determining the illegality of the action, and finally, finding the accountability of said action. Professor Kang proceeded to suggest further questions for students to consider, such as whether criminal law is a law of fact or obligation, of restraint or freedom.

Emphasizing the need for fairness and caution in criminal law, Professor Kang ended the lecture by commenting, “Criminal law does not exist simultaneously with a given criminal situation, because criminal law is about ‘finding.’ The majority of criminal law has to do with the acknowledgement and acquisition of facts. It is important that the process of ‘finding’ such facts is fair and just.” As suggested by the title, the special lecture provided students with an invaluable first step into understanding the basics and philosophy of criminal law.