Improving the Effectiveness of South Korean Product Liability Including Punitive Damages: A Comparative Analysis Between the United States and South Korea

As South Korean Product Liability Act was revised to adopt the U.S. doctrine of punitive damages, there is a theoretical necessity of reviewing the relations between the theory of product liability and the U.S. doctrine of punitive damages. The theory of product liability is closely related to the strict liability but the doctrine of punitive damages has been developed to regulate malicious misconducts. Due to the different basic concepts, the strict liability and malicious misconducts, the theory of product liability might not include the doctrine of punitive damages. In addition to the compatibility issue, functions of the punitive damages are another issue. Although the punitive damages, there is a theoretical necessity of reviewing the relations between the theory of product liability and the U.S. doctrine of punitive damages. The theory of product liability is closely related to the strict liability but the doctrine of punitive damages has been developed to regulate malicious misconducts. Due to the different basic concepts, the strict liability and malicious misconducts, the theory of product liability might not include the doctrine of punitive damages. In addition to the compatibility issue, functions of the punitive damages are another issue. Although the punitive damages are regarded not as a criminal issue, but as torts, the punitive damages function as punishment, deterrence, retribution, and so on. With the issues about compatibility and functions, this thesis suggests two implications for improving the revised South Korean Product Liability Act. The first implication for the revised South Korean Product Liability Act is that implementing the punitive damages of South Korea within the three times of compensatory damages regardless of the degree of malicious misconducts is not fit for regulating various types of malicious misconducts. Therefore, there is a necessity for reforming the three–time’s cap of South Korean punitive damages. The second is that South Korean manufacturers have a responsibility to consider their products’ safety