북한의 형사사법절차에 대한 체제 내외적 평가 — 미국 여기자 억류사건을 중심으로 —

Abstract

On 17 March, 2009, North Korean boader guards detained two American journalists after they crossed into North Korea from China without a visa. Despite vigils for two journalists throughout the United States, they were not released. Rather, they were found guilty of illegal entry and hostile acts and sentenced to twelve years hard labor in June 2009. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardoned the two on August 5, 2009, the day after former U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived in the country on a publicly unannounced visit as a special envoy. It is worth nothing that North Korea has shown quite a different stance on this case comparing its previous practices. Pyongyang has reported in detail about the ongoing situations of the affair; on 21 March, 2009, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea, announced that two journalists were in the investigation process; On March 30, it reported that preparations were under way for indictments and a trial, saying, "The illegal entry of US reporters into the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements." It clearly demonstrates that North Korea wanted to show the world that it actually follows the rules of its own legal system as well as those of the international one. The purpose of this article is to analyze the criminal judicial system of North Korea and evaluated it from the perspective in and out of the system of the country with respect to the case mentioned above. This article takes a close look on whether Pyongyang observed its own criminal laws based on the legal system of North Korea, and whether it established the criminal laws fulfilling the international standards on the criminal laws and criminal judicial procedures. The examination leads to the conclusion that considering this case North Korea neither complied with its own laws nor satisfied the international standards. In other words, this case has proved that the criminal judicial procedures of North Korea are nothing but hollow and all depend on the political situation in and out of the country.