Legal Dispute Resolution between South and North Korea in the era of reconciliation and cooperation

Abstract

North Korea’s nuclear test shut down the Kaesung Industrial Complex in February 2016. Prior to the termination of the plants in Kaesung, the Mt. Kumgangsan tourism project was suspended since 11th July 2008 soon after the death of South Korean Woman in North Korea. They were symbolic projects of economic cooperation that led to other similar projects. From that time political relationship had remained ice-cold and economic cooperation had been discontinued for the past decade. However, Inter-Korean relations have dramatically improved with the 2018 Winter Olympic Games and the resumption of the Kaesung Industrial Complex and of Mt. Kumgangsan tourism were of a great concern at home and abroad. At this point we have to make dispute resolution system between North and South Korea that could remain untouched by political turmoil.This study focuses on the legal dispute resolutions including traditional civil procedure between North and South Korea. North Korea is currently preparing a plan to attract foreign capital to build and operate a complex within Kaesung special economic zone and Mt.Kumgangsan tourism project and other special economic zones with the help of South Korean private businesses. North Korea should build a reasonable legal dispute resolution system that could be trusted by foreigners including South Korean private enterprises in order to achieve the goal. The relationship between North and South can be always fluctuating according to the international political changes in the near future. For this reason we have to make a stable and uninterrupted legal dispute resolution system that could be safe from external forces.