Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Rule of Law in Pandemic and New Normal Era: Focused on Critical Legislative Policy Discussions
Authors:   Korean Public Land Law Association, Sung Bong-Geun 
Published: November 2023

The post-COVID era is clearly a time requiring the convergence of law and science, navigating through both pandemic and endemic situations. The era has witnessed the implementation of stringent social measures, such as social distancing, movement and location tracking, restrictions on gatherings and protests, mandatory vaccinations, vaccine passports, business operation limits, school attendance timing restrictions, mask mandates, utilization of non-contact transactions, enforced quarantine, and lockdowns. These measures have necessitated a confluence of law and science. While South Korea has rapidly addressed this convergence from a rule-of-law perspective, there remain shortcomings in this approach. Particularly, the introduction of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies like artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things in the post-COVID era presents new challenges to legal principles, necessitating legitimate and constitutional justifications.
Despite the fact that various disease control measures utilizing Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies would not have been easily accepted under normal circumstances, they have been widely adopted and utilized under the public interest pretext of combating the pandemic during emergency legislative and administrative measures. While specific and concrete rules are most commonly employed in regular times, the pandemic has led to an increase in general disposals, extensive use of regulatory orders beyond legal mandates, and the deployment of administrative rules and guidelines without sufficient authorization considerations. These legislative and administrative measures, as tools in the fight against COVID-19, often failed to adequately reflect the demands of rule-of-law. Particularly, the pandemic has paved the way for the unprecedented use of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in this new normal era, necessitating continuous consideration of rule-of-law principles.
From a legal theory perspective, a balanced approach is required in weighing safety and freedom, safety and discrimination, and permissible risks, harmonizing these within a risk society where science and technology challenge existing norms. Although the use of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and enhanced vaccination efforts have enabled us to emerge from the dire pandemic, continuous legislative and administrative efforts are needed to address the deepening digital divide.
From a policy perspective, a critical view has been developed regarding specific measures, discussing improvements and alternatives. Topics include fine-tuning rule-of-law in response to disease control measures, adjusting to the dominance of algorithms, restoring normalcy and fundamental rights, the resilient recovery of markets, overcoming the limits of traditional regulations, utilizing self-regulation and regulated self-regulation, addressing new challenges related to various epidemic measures, data privacy, and Big Brother concerns.
As we move from pandemic to endemic, the tasks of rule-of-law in this era are evolving. Emergency legal and administrative measures need to be re-evaluated under normal rule-of-law standards. This paper has analyzed various measures in response to the pandemic and endemic situations from legal theory and policy perspectives, arguing the need for ongoing contemplation and policy efforts towards new challenges of rule-of-law.