북한의 대남관계 근본적 변화와 형법개정

North Korea revised its criminal law through the revision and supplementation of Decree No. 1522 of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly on December 24, 2023 (Juche 112). In addition, North Korea has been implementing measures to define its relationship with South Korea as a “state relationship of the main enemy” since 2024, erasing unification and the nation and implementing a major change in its relationship with the South and unification policy. The year 2023 is also the beginning of a fundamental change in North Korea's relationship with South Korea and its unification policy. The major change in North Korea's unification policy can be seen through the revision of the North Korean Criminal Law. In addition, the North Korean Criminal Law continues to play a role in protecting the North Korean system and strengthening Kim Jong-un's ruling system. This can be seen more specifically when looking at the contents of the 2023 revision of the North Korean Criminal Law. In particular, it is attempting to change its unification policy by deleting articles containing expressions such as “Korean people” and “national liberation” in the North Korean Criminal Law. In order to protect the North Korean regime, the number of crimes subject to the death penalty increased from 11 to 16, and the main contents of the revised crimes were revised mainly to focus on national and social interests compared to the South Korean criminal law. Therefore, in this article, we look specifically at the North Korean Criminal Act, which was revised in 2023, when North Korea's relations with South Korea began to fundamentally change, and see how they are trying to maintain their system compared to the North Korean Criminal Act before the fundamental change in their relations with South Korea. Starting from the process of criminal law change before the fundamental change in North Korea's relationship with South Korea, we looked at the current North Korean criminal law, but from South Korea's perspective, it cannot be seen as an advanced criminal law. Nevertheless, we must continue to have interest in the field of North Korean criminal law, including North Korean criminal law. This is because, regardless of whether North Korea's criminal law is progressive or regressive, it is very meaningful to understand the reality of North Korean society by continuously examining future revisions to North Korea's criminal law. In the future, we need to prepare for unification based on all scenarios, including unification policy, reconciliation and cooperation, and sudden changes in North Korea. In particular, when studying North Korean criminal law, we should not overlook the diversity of methods of applying criminal law assuming a unified situation. In particular, the methods of applying South and North Korean criminal law must go through a process of legal assimilation.