A Comparison of Women- and Family-Related Legislation between South and North Korea Basic Direction for Integration

In the fields of politics and economics, there have been various efforts direced at identifying the gaps between legislation in South and North Korea for the purpose of planning for future integration. In the areas of women and families, however, no comprehensive studies in preparation for reunification have yet been pursued. This study pursued a more systematic and comprehensive understanding of the North’s laws and legislation related to women and families, and then attempted to compare them to those in the South. First, we reviewed the development process of women- and family- related legislation in the South and the North in the years since their division, particularly focusing on working women engaging in work and family life by stage of life. Second, we sorted women- and family-related laws and legislation in the South and North into six different categories: gender equality; women and work; violence against women; women’s health and reproductive rights; family; and workfamily balance. Each category was examined in terms of major laws and key content. Third, we compared and analyzed the legal systems of the South and the North according to these six categories, and finally presented a basic direction for the integration of the two systems focusing on women and family issues in the context of Korean reunification.