여객의 인적손해에 대한 해상여객운송인의 배상책임에 관한 검토

With the increase of national income and activation of marine leisure, it became anurgent national task to find ways to prevent damages caused by the death or injuries ofpassengers as well as to expand remedies of the victims. When compared to relevant internationallegal regimes, however, our legislation reveals some problems caused by the insufficientcompensation for damages of the victims. Especially, as the Korean Commercial Code has onlyintroduced gross limitation of liability regime, the carriers can limit their liability to a certainamount of money for damages of passengers, This means the actual compensation which will be distributed to each victims shall be determined by the number of victims. To resolve the abovementioned problems, limitation of liability per passenger should be introduced to the KoreanCommercial Code. Meanwhile, for the adequate compensation of passengers, carrier's liability topassengers for injury or death resulting from shipping accidents should be strict up to a specificsum of money in line with the Athens Convention relating to the carriage of Passengers and theirLuggage by Sea, 1974 (hereunder 'the Athens Convention'). Additionally, compulsory liabilityinsurance of passenger carriers and with direct action against the insurer should be enacted for theprotection of passengers. Even if the carriers are obliged to take out compulsory liability insurancepolicy, there can be a legal problem that passengers may not be compensated from the insurerwhen the insurer is exempted from indemnity against the assured. For the sake of protection ofthe victims, it is strongly recommended that the insurer pays a certain sum of insurance money topassengers regardless of the carrier's intention which has caused the shipping accident. Finally,where a marine insurance time policy includes 'promissory warranty of seaworthiness', theunderwriter is not liable for any loss attributable to such unseaworthiness to which the assured isprivity. Therefore, it should be recognized that governmental authorities' administrative supervisionof the operation of passenger ships that is tightly linked to the seaworthiness of ships as well aspassenger carriers' voluntary efforts for the seaworthiness of their vessel are directly related toinsurance compensation to victims.