실종아동의 신속한 확인을 위한 유전정보 활용의 법적 방안

Abstract

The 'Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children, etc.', enacted in 2005, prevents the occurrence of missing children, etc., promotes early discovery and recovery, and stipulates and enforces matters related to support for social adaptation after return. stipulated that registration and management of information such as fingerprints, establishment and operation of information linkage systems, etc., requests for personal location information, etc., execution of genetic tests and the establishment and operation of the results as a database are possible. In particular, conducting a genetic test and making a database of the contents is necessary to quickly identify the identity of the missing child and protect the life and body. According to the Children's Rights Agency in May 2021, a child who went missing at the age of 4 was reunited with his family through a genetic test for the first time in 62 years. However, since genetic information is considered sensitive information under the Personal Information Protection Act, care must be taken in using the information. In this regard, it is necessary to review whether it is appropriate to use genetic information in legislation such as the Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children, and to what extent it is permitted. This thesis examines the necessity of using genetic information and constitutional discussions for it by limiting it to children under the age of 18 among the objects of protection under the Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children, and examines the current status of missing children under the age of 18 in Korea, the Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children, the Bioethics and Safety Act, etc. We review the current legislation and try to determine whether there is a possibility of expanding the test subject of Article 11 of the Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children for the use of genetic information.