김정은 시대 북한 장애자권리보장법 분석: 국제인권규범의 수용과 그 한계

This study aims to analyze North Korea’s “Law on the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” (2023), enacted under Kim Jong-un’s leadership, and to examine the nature and limitations of changes in North Korea’s disability rights legislation by comparing it with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Despite already having the “Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities,” North Korea chose to enact a new “rights protection law” rather than amending the existing legislation, which can be interpreted as an attempt to reorient disability policy from a protection-centered approach to a rights discourse-centered framework. Employing literature analysis and comparative legal analysis as research methods, this study systematically examines the structural and substantive changes between the “Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities” and the “Law on the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” and contrasts them with key provisions of the CRPD. The analysis reveals that the new law expands formal rights provisions by comprehensively stipulating persons with disabilities’ sociopolitical rights, equality rights, personal and property rights, and rights to education, health, labor, and cultural life, while explicitly incorporating anti-discrimination principles and provisions on international exchange and cooperation. Particularly noteworthy is the establishment of an independent chapter on sociopolitical rights, which specifies voting rights, the right to petition, and equality in judicial proceedings for persons with disabilities—a change that distinguishes it from the previous legal framework. However, despite these changes, the majority of rights provisions remain at a declaratory level, and rights such as freedom of movement, political participation, and judicial protections are difficult to implement substantively within North Korea’s authoritarian political system and governance reality. This creates structural tension with the CRPD’s underlying premises of individual autonomy and effective rights protection. In conclusion, the “Law on the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” in the Kim Jong-un era represents a legislative response aimed at reconstructing North Korea’s human rights discourse and enhancing external legitimacy by selectively adopting the language and form of international human rights norms. This study contributes to illuminating the political and institutional significance of changes in North Korea’s human rights legislation by analyzing its disability rights legal framework from the perspective of formal rights protection under an authoritarian regime.