북한이탈주민의 법인식 실태와 제고 방안

Abstract

South and north Korea has a totally different legal system. Therefore, the north Korean defectors that settle in the South Korean society experience many difficulties in getting used to the South Korean legal system. In north Korea, the contents of written laws are not strictly complied in criminal, civil, administrative and judicial areas. This is because the north Korean legal system is based on the socialist legal theory where the political powers’superiority over the legal system is officially granted. As a result of living under such legal system, the north Korean residents seems to have a tendancy to align political power with law. This is why north Korean defectors are having difficulty in adapting to the South Korean legal system. This shows that proper education and support is necessary for the north Korean defectors to properly adjust to the South Korean society. When analyzing the north Korean defectors’ view on the north Korean defector supporting system in South Korea, the education and support provided in the early stage of entrance turn out to be inefficient. This is probably because most of the education and support are provided before they actually experience what the South Korean society is like. Consider such feedbacks, education and support for north Korean defectors living in South Korea needs to be provided throughout the entire process of adapting to South Korean society. Currently, law education for north Korean defectors are provided 4-6hours at the early stage of adaptation. And although Ministry of Justice and the Korea Legal Aid Corporation provide law education programs, the programs either limit their target audience to students or request application for education. Although the Korean Lawyers’ Association formed a group for providing legal aid to the north Korean defectors in 2004, the South Korean government began to systemize the legal support for north Korean defectors only after mother and child that fled from north Korea passed away in 2019 due to proverty in Seoul. This shows that the legal education program and legal supporting system is only at the initial stage at this point. In order to improve north Korean defectors’ understanding of the South Korean legal system, the goal of education and support system should be set to making their adapting process easier. And the education and support need to provided throughout their adapation process and not just in the beginning. It is also important to train instructors who can provide customized education for the north Korean defectors. The most important goal of the law education and legal support for the north Korean defectors should be to make them feel the need to make efforts to learn about the legal system on their own.