독일통일과정의 헌법적 문제- 독일 연방헌법재판소 판례를 중심으로 -

Abstract

After World War II, Germany was divided into two countries, West Germany and East Germany as Korea was divided into North and South. Unlike Korea which remains divided to this day, Germany achieved its unification on October 3, 1990. The reunion of Germany may not serve as a role model to that of Korea as Korea and Germany differ from each other in many respects. However, it still provides considerable implications(at least partially) for what issues will arise and how to resolve such issues in preparing and achieving national unification. In this regard, research on the unification experiences of Germany can contribute significantly to reunion of Korea. Decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany protected constitutional values with no exception and they are particularly regarded as significant research materials given that in Korea, it is hard to find in-depth studies and reviews on numerous constitutional issues that may arise during the process of national unification. Unification is a goal that needs to be achieved at all costs. Nonetheless, it gives rise to a number of issues from constitutional perspective. Namely, there are a variety of constitutional issues that should be reviewed ahead of preparing unification. Unification itself is a constitutional matter given that it should be conducted based on the Constitution. Further, the Constitution of the Republic of Korea prescribes that unification is a national goal and an obligation(Preamble, Article 4, Article 66.3, Article 69). As such, unification is a matter that is closely related to the Constitution. The decisions rendered by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany only dealt with a part of various constitutional issues. However, the issues the Court addressed are significant constitutional issues that ought to be resolved in the unification process. In other words, constitutional issues from the German Federal Constitutional Court decisions should be considered as constitutional issues that Korea should address and resolve at a minimum level in its unification process. These issues thus need to be reviewed and researched in Korea preparing unification. And of course, a meaningful research results can be expected only after thoroughly evaluating differences between Korea and Germany and completely incorporating the German experiences into Korean realities.