침략범죄, 국제법치주의의 미완 과제 ‒국제형사재판소(ICC) 로마규정 침략범죄 관할권 조항 개정 논의 중심으로‒

This article analyzes the enforcement gap in international criminal law mechanisms concerning the crime of aggression and examines ongoing efforts to address it through reform of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdictional regime. Although aggression is widely recognized as the “supreme international crime,” the ICC’s existing jurisdictional framework—particularly the restrictions introduced by the Kampala amendments—has rendered individual criminal accountability structurally limited. The article approaches this problem from the perspective of the international rule of law, understood here as a normative framework requiring that even the most consequential exercises of state power, such as the use of armed force, be subject to judicial review and criminal responsibility. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made this enforcement gap particularly visible and has prompted what has been described as a “two-track approach” within the international community: parallel efforts to establish an ad hoc or special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, alongside renewed calls to amend the Rome Statute’s aggression jurisdiction. While special tribunal initiatives are defended as an urgent and pragmatic response to impunity, they also raise concerns regarding selectivity, fragmentation, and the risk of entrenching exceptionalism in the enforcement of aggression law. Against this backdrop, the article provides a focused analysis of the Special Session of the ICC Assembly of States Parties held in New York in July 2025. It examines the proposed amendment aimed at harmonizing the distinctive jurisdictional preconditions applicable exclusively to the crime of aggression with those governing the other core crimes, as well as draft resolutions on aggression jurisdiction reform, and the political decision to defer formal negotiations until 2029. Although no immediate amendment was adopted, the debates themselves mark a significant normative development: they reflect growing recognition that the exceptional treatment of aggression within the Rome Statute undermines the coherence of international criminal justice and the credibility of the international rule of law. The article argues that reforming the ICC’s aggression jurisdiction should be understood not merely as a technical legal adjustment but as a structural step toward embedding accountability for unlawful uses of force within a more consistent and universal institutional framework.