개성공업지구 노동법제의 검토

A study on the labor legislation in Gae-Seong[開城] lndustrial District

The dispute issues between Labor and Capital will be raised up in the foreseeable future after taking into consideration the fact that Gae-song Industrial District (KID) is the place experimenting and extending the introduction of the market-oriented economy into North Korea. This paper introduces major contents of the labor legislation in KID, reviews the differences from the previous open legislative system, and finally proposes the problems to be dealt with. The current problems are as follows. First, there is no employment agencies as the main legal subject which is critical to constitute a labor relations. Second, the legal stability is insufficient due to the absences of explicit provisions on the guideline of job placement fee and its payment schedule. Third, the demands of resident firms on labor supply, employment period, and internship are unlikely to be reflected into reality. Fourth, the principle of direct payment has not been observed. Finally, the absences of provisions on flexible work-hours, dispute resolution procedure, etc can be pointed out as the problems of KID. Although it is the best way to amend the KID’s labor legislation itself in order to complement the above-mentioned drawbacks, it might not be easy to adopt the best option after considering the fact that North Korea’s legislature is the office of primary responsibility to enact the labor provisions. Therefore, it is more reasonable to formulate in a step by step manner the standard of the labor relations of KID through ‘the specific rules for operation’ which will be developed by the mutual cooperation between South and North.