S. Korea to have first-ever blind lawyer

SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- A blind man is close to passing the highly competitive state bar exam for the first time to enter a profession long denied to the visually impaired due to outdated testing methods, officials said Tuesday.

Choi Young, 27, is among the 1,005 prospective lawyers who passed the second
round of the state bar exam and are now awaiting a final interview that usually
rejects only a very few, officials of the Justice Ministry said.
"Every place Choi will go to will now have to be equipped with new programs and
materials he can use, starting with the judicial training institute where he will
train with others who passed the exam. We expect his presence in the legal
profession will improve the rights of the disabled," Kim Nam-woo, a Justice
Ministry official in charge of the bar exam, said.
Apart from a handful of lawyers with differing physical handicaps, none of the
visually impaired had ever passed the exams.
Given the cutthroat competition and the time consuming method of using braille to
read the paper-based tests, visually challenged candidates found it almost
impossible to compete. But with computer-based testing introduced for the blind
in 2005, examinees could now hear exam questions through a voice file and listen
to their typed-in responses.
Choi, who studied law at Seoul National University and passed the exam in his
sixth attempt since 2002, said more blind people would enter the legal profession
if education materials become available in braille. Braille publications are rare
due to copyright issues, he said, adding he hoped the government could remedy the
situation.
"I have yet to do a final interview, but if I'm accepted, I'd like to become a
lawyer," Choi said in a telephone interview with Yonhap.
"I think the biggest obstacle for blind people in getting an education is that
books are rare. Even in university, job prospects are very limited," he said.
Assuming he passes the final interview stage in November, Choi will train in the
Judicial Research and Training Institute for two years, at the end of which he
will then decide whether to enter the prosecution or the judiciary, or join a
private law firm.
Korea's visually impaired took to the streets recently following a court case in
which sighted masseuses filed a petition with the Constitutional Court to
overturn a law granting blind people exclusive rights to the profession of
medical massage, called "anma" in Korean. The litigants argued the law,
established centuries ago, violates their occupational freedom. A ruling is
expected within the year.
Korea is a latecomer when it comes to blind legal practitioners. In the United
States, about 250 people are registered as members of the American Association of
Visually Impaired Attorneys. Japan saw its first blind person pass the bar exam
in 1981 and has since approved three more.
The state-administered bar exam is set to phase out by 2016 as the country
introduces a U.S.-style law school in March to meet the growing demand for
lawyers and produce global talents ahead of the opening of Korea's markets in
coming years.