朝鲜民主主义人民共和国外国人投资法律制度初探

At present, many countries are continuing to make efforts to attract foreign investment. Since April 20, 2018, North Korea announced at the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee that it would stop its nuclear test and concentrate all its efforts on economic construction, thus releasing a positive signal of peace to the whole world. North Korea, regarded as the “last virgin land for investment in East Asia”, has attracted the attention of numerous investors. Influenced by China's reform and opening up and the achievements of the Sino-foreign Joint Venture Law, DPRK promulgated the Joint Venture Law on September 8, 1984. However, due to the low degree of external trust caused by Korea's external debt problem and the rigidity of North Korea's domestic system, the joint venture law has not been able to develop as fast as China's joint venture law. The relevant laws and regulations on foreign investment in North Korea, such as the Foreign Investment Law, the Cooperation Law and the Foreign Enterprise Law, were mostly enacted in the 1990s. After the historic first North-South Summit on June 15, 2000, the DPRK and the ROK signed the “Four Economic Cooperation Agreements” on December 16, 2000. In order to attract Korean capital, they enacted the “Kumgang Mountain Tourism Area Law” and the “Kaesong Industrial Area Law” for Korean enterprises. After a large number of laws and regulations were rectified in 1998-1999, a large number of laws and regulations such as the Implementation Provisions of the Joint Venture Law (2000.3) and the Implementation Provisions of the Cooperation Law (2000.3) were rectified after 2000. In November and December 2011, North Korea enacted and amended many laws and regulations that deserve attention. Among them, up to 13 foreign investment regulations have been amended. In 2014, the Foreign Economic Arbitration Law, the Cooperation Law and the Joint Venture Law were amended. In 2015, the Trade Law, the Labor Law of Foreign Investment Enterprises, the Tax Law of Foreign Investment Enterprises and Foreigners and the Accounting Approval Law of Foreign Investment Enterprises were amended. According to the relevant laws and institutional changes in North Korea over the past 30 years, the foreign investment law has also been improved with the continuous improvement of the national system and related laws and regulations, and has been explored from scratch. Although North Korea's relevant laws and regulations on attracting foreign investment have a minimum institutional shell, they have not achieved the expected foreign investment results. The reason is the restrictive factors of the legal system of foreign investment, which is based on the lack of confidence of the North Korean authorities themselves in foreign investment. Although the process of change in North Korea's legal system is slow, it is moving towards recognizing the necessity and importance of law. Although the domination of law in North Korean society is still at the stage of formal legalism, with the development of law as a normal social operation system and foreign investment legal system, the substantive significance of Korean legalism will become increasingly prominent. With the release of the message of market economic cooperation and regional peace at the highest level of the DPRK, the call for lifting sanctions against the DPRK has also been greeted internationally. The DPRK government has officially launched the wave of socialist market economy construction. In view of foreign investment negotiations and cooperation projects, it will continue to promote the DPRK to improve the relevant laws, regulations and investment environment for foreign investment.