문신시술의 비범죄화에 대한 연구

Abstract

In the past, tattoos used to be a symbol of deviance, but now tattoos have become a fairly common cultural trend. Meanwhile, the Medical Service Act article 27 (1) states that “Any non-medical personnel shall not perform medical practices; and even medical personnel shall not perform any medical practice other than those licensed” under the title of ‘Prohibition against Unlicensed Medical Practices.’ According to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the current legislation, tattooing is prohibited by the Medical Service Act article 27 (1) and the Article 87 provides that a person who violates the article 27 (1) shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years, or by a fine not exceeding twelve million won. In the point of that the tattooing involves penetrating the skin and injecting ink pigment, there would be no denying the invasiveness of the tattooing. The tattooing requires certain expertise that without which it may be difficult to control the risk of tattoos. In this respect, a lot of countries have regulations and legislations related to tattooing. It is necessary to create new regulations about licensing tattooists in Republic of Korea. As a matter of the unlicensed medical practice, to begin with, tattooing should be seen as a ‘medical practice’ under the article 27 (1) of the Medical Service Act, despite some claims that tattooing is not a medical practice. Next, tattooing with certain conditions must be considered an ‘Action which does not violate the social rules’ of the Criminal Act article 20.