통일대비 남북한 여성ㆍ가족 관련 법제 비교 연구

Comparative Research on Women and Family-related Legislation of South and North Korea in Preparation for the Reunification of Korea

Ⅰ. 서론 1. 연구의 필요성 및 목적 분단된 지 70년 가까이 된 오늘날 남북한은 자본주의와 사회주의라는 국가체제의 상이함 등으로 인하여 법제에 있어 많은 차이가 존재한다. 이와 관련하여 그동안 주로 정치ㆍ경제 분야를 중심으로 통일대비 남북한 법제의 간극을 짚어보고 이에 대한 통합방안 마련을 위한 시도가 존재하였지만, 여성ㆍ가족 관련 분야의 경우 통일대비 연구가 종합적으로 이루어진 바는 없다. 또한 소수 존재하는 통일대비 여성 관련 북한 법제에 대한 기존 연구는 주로 1990년대 중반 이전의 법제 내용을 소개하는 수준에 머물러 있다. 북한 여성 관련 법제들은 1990년대 중반 경제난 이후 1998년 「사회주의 헌법」 개정을 필두로 1999년에는 「어린이보육교양법」, 「사회주의로동법」 등이 개정되었으며, 2009년 개정 「사회주의 헌법」에는 북한 최초 '인권보장 조항'(제8조)에 대한 명문규정이 신설되었다. 또한 2010년에는 「녀성권리보장법」, 「아동권리보장법」, 「로동보호법」 등이 새로이 제정되어, 이전에 비하여 여성 및 아동 권리의 법적 보장이 강화되었다. 또한 '세계에서 유일하게 매춘이 없는 나라'라고 표방하던 북한이 2004년 개정 「형법」에 남한의 성매매에 준하는 매음죄(당시 제261조)를 신설한 이후, 2012년 개정 「형법」에서는 과거와 달리 1회의 행위만으로도 처벌대상이 되도록 하고 법정형도 대폭 상향 조정하였다(현행 제249조). 남한 또한 1990년대 중반 이후 성평등 사회를 지향하며 많은 여성 관련 입법이 제ㆍ개정되었다. 최근 「여성발전기본법」의 「양성평등기본법」으로의 변화, 「민법」상 호주제 폐지, 저출산ㆍ고령사회에 대응하기 위한 일ㆍ가정 양립 지원 정책의 추진 등이 이루어지고 있다.

The 70-year-long division of South and North Korea has widened the gap between their legal systems. Over the past decades, many endeavors have been made to check differences in legislation between South and North Korea and to craft related integration plans in preparation for reunification, focusing on political and economic realms. However, in the areas of women and family, comprehensive studies for the reunification of Korea have yet to be sufficiently conducted. Moreover, a few existing research studies on North Korea's laws on women were limited to introducing pre-mid-1990s legal systems. In the fields of women and family, both South and North Korea have seen many changes in legislation since the mid-1990s. In order to integrate and adjust women and family-related legal systems in a gender-sensitive way for the future reunification of Korea, systematic and comprehensive research on women and family-related laws in the two Koreas should be carried out. Therefore, this study was designed to look into changes in women and family-related laws of South and North Korea since their division, to analyze the current women and family-related legal systems in the North, to compare the systems of the two Koreas, and to thereby identify similarities and differences between the two regimes to get ready for the prospective reunification of Korea. To this end, Chapter I briefly describes the needs for and objectives of this study, as well as research content and methods, to show the general direction of research. Chapter II looks into the development process of women and family-related laws in the two Koreas by key period, concentrating upon women who engage in family and social lives, in order to identify the causes of differences between the two regimes. Chapter III deals with women and family-related laws of the two Koreas regarding gender equality, female labor, violence against women, female health and reproductive rights, family, and work-family balance, examining key content by sector. Lastly, based on such reviews, Chapter IV compares and analyzes the legal systems of the two Koreas and finally present the basic direction for consolidation of the two systems, assuming the reunification of Korea. This paper is expected to provide the basic data for future research through the comprehensive and systematic study and analysis of women and family-related laws in South and North Korea and can also be used as preliminary materials for reunification policies that enable the gender-sensitive integration and adjustment of related legal systems in the process of reunifying Korea. Moreover, it is deemed to make contributions to raising North Korean women's awareness of their rights and establishing the direction of education on reunification laws but unfortunately fails to compare and analyze women and family-related laws in more diverse contexts due to limited access to data. We look forward to seeing that more active academic exchange between South and North Korea enables a more realistic and effective review of legal systems in the two regimes.