The North Korea's Criminal Law had been revised three times in the year of 1974, 1987 and 1999 since the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea set up its Criminal Law with 301 codes in 23 Chapters for the first time in 1950. The Stalinist Crime Law of the former Soviet Union was a model for that.
The Criminal Law of North Korea serves as a useful tool to guarantee socialistic ideology and dictatorship by the proletariat, and eliminate everything on the way of communist revolution, whereas our National Security Law is established for our country's security, people's freedom and lives by regulating dangerous and destructive activities against our country.
Since the Criminal Law of North Korea defines all of the activities possibly dangerous to North Korea's regime as "Crime", even misdemeanors against the Kim Jung-Il's dictatorship and his government can constitute crime and be punished severely.
Especially, the North's Law has too many evil clauses infringing on Human Rights. First, the Law includes lots of abstract and vague clauses for punishment, by denying the basic principle of "nulla poena sine lege (the principle of legality)" and by admitting anological interpretation of the penal codes. Second the Law operates very unique but unreasonal definitons on Crime and judicial system denying the independence of court and individual's right, which cannot be found in any laws around the world. Third, just a say of antipathy to North Korea and communism should be too much severely and publicly punished, for example, by death penalty.
At this point, the Criminal Law of the North is proved as just a tool to watch people and extort blind obedience or devotion. So, the Law is deserved to be called "Evil" itself against human rights.
However, North Korea is our another half for reunification of the Korean Peninsula. So, it is necessary that we should search a way to bridge a wide gap between the two Korea's Criminal Laws, rather than just criticise North's Law. As the Korean Peninsula should be peacefully reunified based on the principle of Democracy, the unified Criminal Law must firmly maintain public peace, and guarantee individual freedom and security under the principle of law-governed state.
Considering our government has made consistent efforts to unify the Korean Peninsula gradually, the reunification of the two Koreas' Criminal Law should be revised by much mutual exchange and understanding stage by stage.
Above all, we should turn the currrent hostile and antagonistic relation of the two Korea into the cooperative and harmonious one by diminishing difference of the two Laws. For this, it's necessary that working-level exchange and study of Criminal Law should be activated. And then, we can legislate the new Criminal Law common to two Koreas by deducing similar elements in their Laws.
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