The legislative framework for international arbitration in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: A comprehensive analysis of the External Economic Arbitration Law (2014)

Abstract

The contents of the revised Arbitration Law of the Republic of Korea have been announced at home and abroad through various channels. However, it is hardly known that North Korea prepared the Foreign Economic Arbitration Act in 1999 to attract foreign investment and revised it in 2014 based on the International Commercial Arbitration Model Act of the United Nations Commission for International Commercial Law. Furthermore, it is not easy to see how the actual international arbitration is being conducted based on the same law, and the role of the arbitration committee and the judicial authorities. In this context, this paper introduces the North Korean foreign economic arbitration law, and examines how each clause of the International Commercial Arbitration Model Act is reflected through analysis of the articles and whether there is room for improvement in the legislative process. We also compared the contents of the Arbitration Act of the Republic of Korea revised in 2016 in order to analyze them according to the texts, and also examined the similarities and differences between the related terms used in the two laws. In conclusion, the enactment and revision of the Foreign Economic Arbitration Act can be regarded as part of efforts to attract foreign capital in difficult political and economic circumstances, and it is evaluated as a step closer to the internationally widely adopted arbitration model law . If additional legislative amendments are made, it may be possible that North Korea will be able to become a party to the Convention on the Approval and Enforcement of Foreign Jurisdictions. This will be an important occasion to improve the political, economic and other environment and to establish the foundation for international arbitration, which is essential in the case of increased foreign direct investment and economic activities such as trade with foreign companies. I want to make meaning because it can be.