South Korea's Constitutional Court has upheld a law that bars people who served prison terms for drug crimes from working as parcel delivery drivers for up to 20 years.
The court recently ruled the provision constitutional in a 6-3 decision, legal sources said on the 25th. The case concerned Article 9-2, Paragraph 1, Item 1(c) of the Trucking Transport Business Act.
Under the provision, a person sentenced to imprisonment or a harsher penalty for violating the Narcotics Control Act cannot work as a driver in the parcel delivery business for a period set by presidential decree, up to 20 years from the date the sentence is completed or waived. Anyone who violates the restriction must have their freight transport license revoked.
The plaintiff, identified only as A, completed a prison term and was released in June 2002, then obtained a freight transport license and worked as a delivery driver. In November 2021, the mayor of Geoje revoked A's freight transport license and permit to operate a parcel delivery trucking business, citing the prior drug conviction. A filed a suit to overturn the decision and asked the court to refer the law to the Constitutional Court for review. The court granted part of the request and asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the provision.
The Constitutional Court found a need to prevent risks that could arise from repeat drug offenses and to secure public safety and trust in parcel delivery services. It cited the strong addictive and dependency-forming properties of narcotics, as well as the nature of the job, in which delivery drivers meet recipients in person and can obtain personal information during deliveries.
The court said the restriction on freedom of occupational choice was not excessive relative to the public interest it seeks to achieve. It noted that the law does not uniformly set the restriction at 20 years but instead directs a presidential decree to determine the specific period, taking into account the type and gravity of the offense, the length of the sentence and the risk of reoffending.
The court also rejected the argument that applying the provision to people who had worked as delivery drivers before the law took effect violates the principle of protecting legitimate expectations.
Constitutional Court President Kim Sang-hwan and Justices Jeong Jeong-mi and Jeong Kye-seon dissented, arguing that the provision violates the principle against excessive restriction and infringes on the freedom of occupation. They said it is excessive to bar someone from driving for parcel delivery services for up to 20 years solely because of a past drug conviction, without any individual assessment of the risk of reoffending. Applying the employment ban without exception, even to people whose risk of reoffending has fallen markedly, makes rehabilitation and reintegration into society more difficult and could therefore undermine the legislative goal of preventing repeat offenses, they said.