북한인권법의 국제적 성격에 관한 소고

Abstract

This paper analyzes the draft bill of the North Korean Human Rights Act currently under the consideration in the Republic of Korea National Assembly from an international and comparative legal perspective. North Korea's human rights violations have deeply concerned the global community to such a degree that the United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted resolutions against North Korea for its human rights policy. Moreover, the United States and Japan passed laws regarding this question in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Since 2005 when the Grand National Party drafted a bill for promoting North Korea's human rights this draft has been also on the table for harsh debate in the Korean society. A critical point at issue lies in whether this draft bill would properly function for promotion of human rights in North Korea as well as maintaining peaceful relations between the two Koreas. There are different opinions. In order to understand the draft North Korean Human Rights Act,we should recognize its international character because this law, in spite of adopted as domestic law, would work as an instance of international law. For this purpose, first, this paper will discuss the international background of drafting the North Korean Human Rights Law. The UN Human Rights Council's resolutions will be explained. Second, this law will be compared with the US North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 because the latter is the model bill of the former. Due to this, they tend to share many common regulations. Third, this paper is going to tackle the Bush Administration's foreign policy. Designating North Korea and other States as 'Axis of Evil' or 'Outpost of Tyranny,' the Bush Administration adopted many anti-dictatorship laws in the early 2000s. North Korean Human Rights Law should be regarded as one of these laws. Lastly, this paper will discuss the significance of the North Korean Human Rights Law from a viewpoint of Northeast Asian security. The concern exists that this law could play a leading role in bringing down the North Korean regime, accelerating the exodus of people in North Korea. Each provision will be investigated with a political sense as well as positive perspective.