This study discusses current status and issues of parole in Korea. In theory parole is designed to give inmates another chances of reintegration and rehabilitation outside the wall of prison. It is implemented in the form of administrative decision by the parole reviewing committee and the parolees are released under the supervision of mandatory probation. In practice, however, there are some problems to achieve the objectives of reintegration and rehabilitation. The most critical problem is about the eligibility requirement. Only the offenders who have served most of their term would be eligible for parole, regardless of their degree of rehabilitation or corrections. Second, because the parole review is divided into two separate processes for juveniles and adult offenders, an unnecessary overlap of administrative procedures hinders the efficient function of correctional administration. To remedy these problems, a few recommentations are followed.

The effective confinement of correctional populations, and the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of the inmates as key elements of correctional objectives are legitimized by the law. However, it is not easy to accomplish these goals at the same time, because these two goals are inherently in conflict: emphasizing on the one may result in weakening of the other. Therefore, both theoretical and practical considerations have been given to reconciliate this contradictory aspect of the two goals. The study examines each issue of "rehabilitation and reintegration" and "public safety" with their relevance to the correctional goals, and then discusses their relationship, focusing on the conflict side of the two goals. Next, attempts are made to find out ways to solve the tension between the two. This paper gives some suggestions as follows; ① The priority should be given to the goal of rehabilitation and reintegration rather than that of public safety and community protection, ② although the safety issue seems secondary in its role in the general correctional objectives, this does not mean that we can ignore this aspect entirely. It should also be considered as an important part of the correctional goals, ③ efficient and effective strategies must be made to preserve secure environment within the facilities, ④ incessant efforts are needed to develop various strategies for the community-based corrections.