The Korean Institute of Criminology, under the vision of multilateral research in criminal justice, is developing into a global research institute, contributing to crime prevention in the international society through the partnership with other institutes, especially as a member of the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program Network (UNPNI).
To achieve the vision and goals as a global research hub, the International Strategic Research Center has established the three years long-term master plan from 2016 to 2018. It attempts to consolidate KIC’s global position as a leading research institute through the cooperation with various international research institutes in the field of criminology, criminal law and criminal justice, and by building networks for systemic academic exchange.
Every year, the International Strategic Research Center is holding international and regional forums and workshops to raise KIC as a representative research institute in crime prevention and to establish systematic and effective criminal policy.
Specifically, the most representative project is the Korean Institute of Criminology International Forum (KICIF). Since 2014, the International Strategic Research Center has held the KICIF every year on an international issue in criminal justice, invited experts from all around the world, shared each country’s model examples and provided opportunities to contribute to establishing criminal justice policies for the prevention of transnational crime.
In addition, since 2013, KIC is annually holding the Northeast Asian Forum for Criminal Justice (NAF) with its regional partners, Jilin University, Liaoning University and Heilongjiang University. The forum aims to enhance intra-regional cooperation in criminal justice by developing policy measures and promoting mutual legal assistance based on geographical proximity, socio-cultural commonalities and economic ties among Northeast Asian countries.
Furthermore, since 2014, KIC is holding the Korea-Japan Criminal Justice Policy Forum with institutes in Japan. The forum aims to share criminal law and criminal justice theories and experience in the East Asian region and use the examples of each country when law and policies are implemented.
The efforts and achievements of the International Strategic Research Center to hold annual and systematic international forums has played a major role in establishing KIC as an international hub in criminal justice research.
The Korean Institute of Criminology is also a permanent member of the UNPNI and every year the International Strategic Research Center is developing major themes based on the UN agenda for the international forum project. Based on such various international forum projects, the International Strategic Research Center will continuously support in building cooperative networks of pan-governmental capacity for the development of a better criminal justice system, by hosting conferences for domestic and international experts.