President Lee Jae-myung takes questions from participants during the “Gwangju Citizens and Jeonnam Residents Town Hall Meeting” held at the National Asia Culture Center in Gwangju on June 25, 2025. (Image courtesy of the Presidential Office Press Photo Pool)
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) — President Lee Jae-myung has raised the possibility of reintroducing South Korea’s traditional bar exam system, signaling potential reforms to the country’s legal education pathway and reigniting a long-standing national debate.
During a town hall meeting in Gwangju on June 25, President Lee responded to a citizen’s call for the reinstatement of the national bar exam—abolished in favor of the law school system over a decade ago—by saying, “If someone has the capability, I believe they should be able to qualify as a lawyer even without attending law school.”
Lee described his comments as a personal view but instructed Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom to examine the issue further. “I had this very discussion over lunch recently,” he said, noting concerns that the current law school system may resemble an exclusive or hereditary track, akin to Korea’s historical eumseo privilege or gwageo civil service exams.
President Lee Opens Door to Revisiting Bar Exam in South Korea, Reviving Debate Over Legal Education Reform (Image supported by ChatGPT)
This is not Lee’s first time addressing the issue. As a presidential candidate in 2021, he suggested partially reviving the bar exam to provide opportunities to capable individuals regardless of educational background, including those who never completed high school.
However, experts caution that revisiting the bar exam could be contentious. South Korea’s law school system, introduced under the Roh Moo-hyun administration and fully implemented by 2017, has since become deeply institutionalized.
Legal experts expressed skepticism about a dual-track system. “The return of the bar exam is no longer part of serious discussion in the legal community,” said attorney Yang Hong-seok, a former legal policy adviser. “The law school model has taken root.”
Professor Lee Chang-hyun of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies added that while concerns over fairness—such as entrance exams and financial barriers—persist, the country lacks the academic infrastructure to support both systems simultaneously.
On the other hand, advocates for reinstating the bar exam argue that monopolizing legal education through law schools creates systemic inequities. Baek Won-ki, head of the Korean Association of Law Professors, likened the current system to a modern-day eumseo and called for at least a limited alternative pathway.
President Lee acknowledged the political sensitivities of the issue. “Turning this into policy would provoke fierce debate,” he said, “but personally, I sympathize with the concern.” A presidential aide clarified that Lee’s comments reflect a personal opinion rather than an imminent policy shift.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
