hankyoreh

Former Supreme Court Justice Lee Hong-hoon during an interview with the Hankyoreh in the Yoon & Yang Public Interest Foundation’s conference room at ASEM Tower in Seoul on Oct. 1. (Park Jong-shik

“Even” North Korea has lawyers. Its Socialist Constitution states that “courts cases are heard in public and the accused is guaranteed the right of defense.” In 1993, it created an Attorney Act with 30 articles. It also has a bar association, its equivalent to the South’s Korea Bar Association.

But there is a difference in terms of the attorney’s role. Article 1 of the North Korean Attorney Act states that attorneys are to “contribute to protecting the legal rights and interests of institutions, companies, groups, and citizens and guaranteeing the correct enforcement of the law.”

This stands in contrast with the South Korean Attorney-at-Law Act, which states that the “mission of an attorney-at-law shall be to defend fundamental human rights and realize [. . . ] social justice.”

“I don’t really know the situation with the legal community. I’m sure they have a legal community there. All we really have access to are the North Korean Constitution and laws; there aren’t any exchanges among legal professionals. So we have to meet.”

Former Supreme Court Justice Lee Hong-hoon, 72, welcomes recent developments in inter-Korean relations, which may be slow in coming but are not as susceptible to being pushed back as they have been in the past. After stepping down from the Supreme Court in 2011, Lee launched a public interest committee for the law firm Yoon & Yang the following year; in 2014, he became inaugural chairman of the Yoon & Yang Public Interest Foundation.

After stepping down to the position of advisory attorney for the foundation last December, he became chairman in January for the Judicial Development Committee with the People, where he has been developing a framework for judicial reforms. While this was going on, something else happened: the May launch of the Peace Community Legislation Forum, designed to provide legal support for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation. Lee, who serves as a representative for the forum, met with the Hankyoreh on Oct. 1 in the Yoon & Yang Public Interest Foundation’s conference room at ASEM Tower in Seoul’s Gangnam District.

“In December of last year, before the April inter-Korean summit, legal professionals and private groups met and agreed to contribute to establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula and integrating the community through inter-Korean legal exchange and cooperation. I also presented a proposed full amendment there to the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act.”

Lee truly sensed the need for “peace community legislation” when the Kaesong Industrial Complex was closed in Feb. 2016.

“Before discussing political unification, we need to focus on the value of peace and integrating communities. Discussions of unification that do not include enough of a social consensus on that value are meaningless, and sometimes dangerous. If our aim is achieve a stable, lasting peace regime instead of temporary peace, it is essential that we create laws and institutions to unite the settings where exchange and cooperation happen.”

During his time as a judge, Lee produced a number of forward-thinking rulings on cases involving violations of the National Security Act and other issues. It is because of this experience that he understands better than anyone how difficult it can be to achieve a social consensus on qualitative changes to inter-Korean relations.

“That’s why getting the conversation started through inter-Korean exchange is the most important thing. North Korea also has attorneys, prosecutors, and courts. Kim Il-Sung University has a law department. When it comes to dialogue, it matters who you’re talking to, but everyone is in the dark about the North Korean situation.”

Despite the lack of understanding, Lee was not going to simply sit around in frustration. Among the participants in the Legislation Forum are private groups with previous experience in exchange and cooperation, along with the South Korean office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation based in Germany – which has its own previous experience with reunification.

“The experience and vision of people who have been working on the front lines in inter-Korean exchange and cooperation are invaluable assets in establishing a legal system to support peace and community. Germany’s reunification process remains a vital reference for us.”

Stefan Samse, a jurist who serves as director of the Adenauer Foundation’s Korea office, recently paid two visits to North Korea.

“He said he met with representatives of North Korean courts, and then with Kim Il-sung University. I look forward to opportunities for South and North Korean legal professionals and scholars to meet and exchange opinions. Seminars could be held in North Korea, South Korea, or a third country.”

Many legal professionals have long been involved in research with an interest in North Korean laws, unification-related laws, laws on inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, and North Korean human rights. It remains difficult to find similarities between the South and North Korean legal systems to match their differences.

“North Korea’s legal system will have to change if it wants to pursue economic cooperation with the international community going ahead. Our forum can provide support with that,” Lee said.

Lee appeared to be giving a lot of thought to areas where South and North Korean laws are in conflict.

“You can’t simply force one side’s system and laws and the other – but there is a way,” he said. “Just as South and North put their heads together to come up with regulations when they first operated the Kaesong Complex, the two sides need to meet first to discuss the problems that could surface in the exchange and cooperation process.”

One idea that Lee is considering involves creating a legal journal for inter-Korean relations to share and discuss North Korean law-related articles.

The forum is currently preparing a roundtable discussion on economic sanctions and legal issues in the economic areas where exchange and cooperation will be concentrated.

“It’s dangerous to view the North as something to exploit. With economic cooperation, you can only build a real relationship of trust when you proceed together as equal partners.”

Lee is also working on changing the forum into a corporation.

“In the past, the hard-won trust between South and North Korea has often collapsed due to changes in policies as new administrations have come into office and changes in the international environment. To overcome this kind of instability, the forum wants to revise the laws and systems to place inter-Korean agreements on a solid footing and increase predictability.”

Some of the young public interest attorneys lending their support include Ham Bo-hyeon and Hong Yu-jin of the Yoon & Yang Public Interest Foundation, Song Yoon-jeong of Barun Law, and Kim Gwang-hoon of the DongIn Law Group.

By Kim Nam-il and Ko Han-sol, staff reporters

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]