Legal Analysis of the Korean Domestic Stakeholders’ Position on the Benefit-sharing Modalities of Marine Genetic Resources in ABNJ

The United Nations General Assembly decided to develop an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea regarding the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). Among the various issues discussed, an important part of the negotiations in the BBNJ negotiations concerns the governance of marine genetic resources, including the question of benefit-sharing. As this is one of the issues over which developed and developing countries have been in the sharpest conflict, reaching a consensus over this issue will act as a major determinant of the successful drafting of the new international instrument. As the ILBI will affect domestic stakeholders in each state, state governments have no choice but to engage in the BBNJ negotiations based on a clear understanding of the positions of all domestic stakeholders. The Korean government has submitted textual proposals, which address the position of itself, for consideration at the last session of the Intergovernmental Conference, but it remains unclear whether the opinions of domestic stakeholders are fully reflected in the proposals. Therefore, this study attempts to assess the opinions of Korean domestic stakeholders, particularly, on the modality of benefit-sharing of marine genetic resources and intends to suggest the future direction of the relevant discussion. Three rounds of a questionnaire survey are conducted by using the Delphi technique to effectively assess the opinions of domestic stakeholders. According to the result of the survey, as the position of the domestic stakeholders on the sharing of non-monetary benefits is unclear, the Korean government seems to maintain its position that non-monetary benefits could be shared but only on a ‘voluntary’ basis. In terms of the sharing of monetary benefits, on the other hand, domestic stakeholders' opinions converged successfully, as it was found that they do not prefer the sharing of such benefits as a system of monetary obligations may discourage states from developing marine genetic resources and, thus, hinder scientific research. This is apparently in line with the view of the government.