korean unification studies

The Roh administration is seeking to change the law for inter-Korean exchanges, removing the requirement for South Korean citizens to report contact with North Korean residents. The Chosun-Ilbo reports:

The revision keeps the stipulation of Para. 2, Article 9 of the old law — “South Korean residents must report to the Unification Minister beforehand if they want to contact a North Korean resident through a meeting, telecommunication or any other means.” But the revision allows an exception: “But the South Korean resident who travels to North Korea may report on his contact with a North Korean resident later, or may not have to report it at all, if an executive decree so stipulates and if his contact with a North Korean resident naturally comes within the permissible range set by the issuing agency of his travel certificate.” The current law requires South Korean travelers to the North to report after their contact with North Koreans “even under unavoidable circumstances recognized by executive decree.” But the revision leaves room for tolerance even if South Koreans don’t report their travel.

This is a major change that could have a significant impact on national security. It also has a significant domestic poolitical impact…

For progressives it serves two purposes. Firstly, it will allow inter-Korean contact outside of the purview of the Government, thus enabling greater engagement with the North. The Chosun Ilbo reports Nam Sung-Wook, a North Korea specialist at Korea University, as stating:

 The government is attempting to enable inter-Korean contacts in a way that doesn’t require reporting to authorities under an executive decree. I don’t know yet how the government will formulate the executive decree, but I suspect it is trying to lay the legal foundation to avoid clandestine contacts it has had so far with the North being revealed to the public.

Secondly, it will weaken provisions within the National Security Law and as a result potentially increase calls for its revision or repeal. The National Security Law, has in the past been abused by authoritarian governments, but arguably, it still remains essential to contemporary South Korean national security – or does it???