criminal minors from 14 to 13 and an amendment to the Juvenile Act to lower the upper age limit from 14 to 13 have been submitted to the National Assembly in December. A number of legislative amendments were also tabled at the National Assembly. Most of the amendments include lowering the age of criminal minors, and in the same context, intended to strengthen criminal sanctions or punishment for juvenile offenders. However, some people, centering on civic societies, are opposing the implementation of such revision. The NHRCK also decided to express its opinion that the “Partial Amendment to the Criminal Act,” lowering the standard age for criminal minors, and the “Partial Amendment to the Juvenile Act,” lowering the maximum age for law breaching minors, to be against the perspective of juvenile rehabilitation and recovery required by international human rights standards and improper as an effective alternative to preventing juvenile crimes and recidivism. B) Issues and Discussions on Lowering the Age of Criminal Minors There are three main arguments for lowering the age of criminal minors and lowering the upper limit of law breaching minors (hereinafter referred to as “lowering the age of criminal minors, etc.”). ① The present day children are physically and mentally more mature than the children of the past. ② Recently, crimes by children under the age of 14 are increasing, and becoming more violent, so strong punishment is needed for law breaching minors under the age of 14. ③ As the age of criminal minors is 14 years old, criminal punishment for violent crimes of children under 14 is impossible, and only protective dispositions are given under the Juvenile Act. This in turn weakens the effectiveness of crime prevention. Regarding the first argument, they suggest that a 13-year-old boy in 2022 is completely different from a 13-year-old boy in 1958 in terms of social and cultural aspects, including the increase in the level of information acquisition due to the popularization of the Internet and smartphones and changes in physical conditions and economic environment. However, even if a child's maturity level has increased compared to the past, it is difficult to find objective data to evaluate that the current child's ability to discriminate objects or control behavior has improved compared to the past, it is only that the current children are in a situation where they can access more knowledge and information than in the past. 126