해적행위에 대한 국제법적 규제

International Regulation on Piracy - Focus on the Jurisdiction of Somalian Pirates

As piracy has worked on the sea route of all maritime nations and threatened the political and commercial benefits of mankinds, International Law regards piracy as the universal crime and enables any piracy-arresting nation to punish him. Piracy's attack against ships interrupts the international trade and causes the huge economic loss. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS), Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation(SUA Convention), and other international conventions around the world are trying to solve these problems. The article 101 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea defines piracy specifically. According to the article, piracy must be taken place on the high seas. Although this requirement is essential to protect territorial sovereignty of coastal states, it also function as one of main obstacles in oppressing piracy at sea. To clear the obstacle, in part the UN Security Council has made decisions to allow armed ships of other states to enter into the territorial sea of Somalia with fixed time limit and adopted 1988 SUA Convention which does not strictly distinguish the territorial sea from the high sea in applying the convention. According to the Article 105 of the UNCLOS every state may exercise universal jurisdiction to adjudicate. However, when navy of a state arrest pirates on the high sea that is usually far away from the state, it is highly burdensome for the state to bring them to trial in the national court because of practical reasons such as high cost and criminal procedure. Thus, "catch and release" practice is widespread among the states. The UN Security Council has encouraged states to make transfer arrangements of pirates with coastal states which are situated nearby the place of piracy. To try pirate, the Council also has decided to build a special national court in those states at an early date. In these points the piracy trial in Korean Court is very meaningful.