중국 경제특구와 개성공단의 초기조건 비교: 임금고용 법제(法制)와 실제(實際)를 중심으로

Abstract

With special attention being paid of late at home and abroad to the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), core issues of the project were cooperatively implemented by the two Koreas, most specifically on the wage and employment systems. However, in reality, some of what was agreed to and legislated by the two Koreas has yet to be implemented. Why is this and how can this be understood? To answer this question, it will be most useful to draw on lessons from the experience of China in maintaining its socialist system--as North Korea appears to be attempting to do. Hence, this paper intends to look at the early stages of development of special economic zones (SEZs) in China through comparative analysis which emphasizes a historical and empirical approach. This article introduces the contents of laws regarding employment and payment in the special economic zones in China during the 1980s. It also attempts, through a study of the available literature, to show how the laws specifically have been implemented. In addition, this article looks at and places special attention on the comparative analysis of the practices involved in the payment and employment related laws. Through this study we hope to provide realistic and valuable lessons for diagnosis of the current situation and future development of the KIC. The case of China denotes resolutely that market-friendly reform in payment and employment systems should continue to be made for the long-term success of the SEZs. As China has done in the past, North Korea needs to be ready to gradually admit systems such as direct employment and discharge of North Korean laborers, free wage settlement, incentives, and so forth. In this regard, the substantial introduction of a contract labor system is required.