Criminal Code of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: Recent Trends

Abstract

Criminal law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not stagnant, it is developing under the influence of international community, and this dynamics is of special interest for research that analyzes changes to the Criminal Code of the DPRK with the goal of understanding if there is a trend in North Korea for getting closer to the world community. Naturally, the reclusiveness of the DPRK does not make any speedy changes in its criminal policy likely, and we can only expect an evolutionary transformation of the policy in this sphere. At the same time, there is no denying the fact that the criminal law of the DPRK is converging more and more with the international standards. The examination of the CC of the DPRK included the analysis of the following: norms-principles and norms-declarations within the law; the structure of North Korean criminal law; its specific legal institutes; the system of punishments under the CC of the DPRK; the responsibility for some types of crimes under this Code. The current CC of the DPRK, adopted in 1950 and amended fifteen times since then, fits harmoniously with the policy of the DPRK. A study of key clauses of the CC of the DPRK, which reveal the attitude of North Korean lawmakers to universally recognized legal values, showed that there is a clear indication of the DPRK’s rapproachment with the international community. It is evident that the criminal law of North Korea is improving. At the same time, although some trends observed in North Korean lawmaking can be viewed as positive from the standpoint of universally recognized legal values, some of its criminal law’s features still make it impossible to conclude that the country has radically changed its criminal policy.