Human rights have been actually discussed in Korean societies since the establishment of the Korean Constitution in 1948. However, human rights were just nominal in practice for a long time and they have become a national and social theme which is really influential in societies after the democratization of Korea in 1987. Since then, human rights NGOs have proliferated and human rights have been regarded as one of the important values in terms of the state and civil society. This article categorizes these developments in Korea into three features: globalization, institutionalization, and localization of human rights. First of all, the globalization of human rights means civil society have used international human rights instruments and system and it has played their roles as substantial legal norms since 1993 in Korea. Secondly, it can be said that human rights are institutionalized in the sense that the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the Ministry of Justice began to play an active role in human rights administration and a series of important legislations regarding human rights were enacted. Lastly, the localization of human rights means that human rights are materialized in local areas or in the particular spheres. In fact, some local authorities enacted human rights ordinances to promote the human rights city campaign and human rights began to have an influence on specific areas such as business and schools. With the consolidation of democracy and improvement of international status of Korea, there should be a growing tendency toward globalizaton, institutionalization, and localization of human rights in Korea.