Abstract
The restorative justice is an alternative to the conventional methods to see the crime and to respond it. It has become, almost everywhere in the world, a key issue in the reform of criminal justice and has gained ground in academia and in the judicial practices. Its international growth and expansion are noteworthy today. With its conceptual flexibility, its practical adaptability and its real assets, this mode of justice deserves to be fully developed within the French and South Korean penal systems. The first part of this thesis, devoted to the fundamentals of the restorative justice, demonstrates this without obscuring its limitations and risks. However, as shown in the second part, dedicated to the practices in France and South Korea, the integration and the development of the restorative justice in both countries are constrained by several socio-cultural obstacles and a number of practical difficulties. This thesis aims to move away from the current state of the two countries in the field of restorative justice, marked by imperfection, reticence and reserve, so that the existing restorative measures can regain their restorative essence and that the restorative justice can be applied and developed successfully in France and South Korea.