운석의 소유권 및 법적 지위에 관한 고찰

To whom does the meteorite that fell to Earth and landed on the property of certain person belong and what is the legal status of it? The author started from this simple question and aimed to review the definition of a meteorite and the study of outer space as well as celestial body from the aspect of international law. In addition, through the study of the domestic law of several countries regarding the legal status and ownership of meteorites, it studies how each country approaches to meteorite finds, investigates the legal basis to be applied on a recent meteorite found in Jinju and deduces the problem of such legal basis. Based on this study, this article strives to supplement the revealed problems, to analyze the new meteorite management system from the perspective of legal system in an attempt to prepare for the future and to present the remaining task. In fact, meteorite ownership and the legal status of it is non-uniform. For instance British Common law and law of United states, which was its former colony, provide that meteorites are the landowner's property and buried meteorites might be part of the mineral rights. Find reporting is not mandatory in this case. Most Western European countries and their former colonies have civil codes providing that meteorites are owned by the landowner. In many countries the legislation about archaeological treasures modifies earlier meteorite law. With no finding of new meteorites for 70 years, Korea confronted new task without any preparation after the find of meteorites in Jinju. After the confirmation that the four rocks found after fireballs were observed starting on March 9, 2014 were meteorites, there has been a rush among not only Koreans but also foreign meteorites hunters to the areas in Jinju to hunt for the possibly valuable pieces of rock. As possibility of new find of meteorites in the future has been confirmed, the importance of meteorites as scientifically valuable property for the study of the birth of solar system 4.5 billion years ago and the evolution of planets and the improvements of meteorite management system have been socially recognized. At the time of the find, the Cultural Heritage Administration(CHA) requested the ban on the export of the found meteorite to the custom office and government and introduced the new management system such as Fundamental Plan for Outer Space Danger while revising related law. With this social atmosphere. the revision was made rapidly and the promotion law for outer space development was adopted at the National Assembly on December of the same year. Considering the fact that legal reviews on the meteorites have barely been made, this article analyzes the outer space law regarding the legal status of celestial body. And then it briefly compares the domestic law of each country regarding the legal status and the ownership issue of meteorites. Especially the author attempts to analyze the problems of domestic law of our country with regard to the ownership of meteorites found in Jinju and possible challenges to follow.