Recently, North Korea's labor regulations operate under a duality of both socialist and capitalist system factors—that is, the regulation of workers under the ‘Socialist Labor Act’ and the special laws such as the ‘Foreign Investment Law’ or ‘Economic Development Zone Act’ that focus on special economic zones as specified in Article 37 of the country’s Socialist Constitution. The Socialist Labor Law of the DPRK regulates production and distribution as the state's responsibility in accordance with the state-owned and collective ownership principles of the means of production, and regulates its legal responsibilities and duties to workers in enterprises, institutions, and organizations. However, exceptions for foreign-invested enterprises in SEZs accept some private property guarantees and elements of capitalist labor law. While the basic framework under the Socialist Labor Law is strictly maintained, capitalist labor rules are recognized within the special economic zones for the economic development of North Korea. Focusing on the duality in labor regulation in North Korea and what is described in the existent North Korean literature, this study analyzes the principles of the ‘Socialist Labor Law’ and the changes in the ‘income distribution system’ in the special economic zones. By diagnosing the possibility of changes in labor legislation resulting from inter-Korean economic cooperation, groundwork can be laid for exploring follow-up measures.