The 2004 Criminal Law Revision in North Korea - a taking-off toward the rule by Law? -

In the year of 2004, North Korea revised its Criminal Law along with its Criminal Procedure. The scale of change is voluminous; the number of Articles is almost doubled. Its ideological tone is decolored, and more norm-like expressions are dominant. Most of all, it declares the principle of legality- nullum crimen sine lege. Analogy is excluded from the interprtation of Criminal Law, and the elements of crimes are more clearly than not expressed. The principle of no-analogy with clarity results in the conspicuous increase in the number of Articles. In the field of punishment, two new types are added; life imprisonment and labor-training[Ro-dong Dan-yeon-hyeong]. The latter implies the infliction of forced works at the labor camp instead of prison works imposed upon those who committed misdemeanor. North Korea proclaimed the governmental measure for revitalizing its economy on July 2002. It includes the market-oriented economy which encourages the private incentives, autonomous price system, and is more ready for foreign investment. The changing structure of economy requires the regulation of various illegalities which accompany the economic activities. Thus, the 2004 revisions of criminal law focus on the regulation against illegal economic activities. Central role of Criminal Law in North Korea lay in the harsh suppression against so-called anti-revolutionary, anti-state crimes. But, its harshness has been...이 연구는 서울대학교 간접연구경비에서 지원되는 통일학연구사업비에 의해 수행되었음