Martin Weiser, Unseen Laws: A Quantitative Approach to Developments in North Korea’s Legal System

Martin Weiser, ‘Unseen Laws: A Quantitative Approach to Developments in North Korea’s Legal System,’ European Journal of Korean Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Spring, 2018), 22-62.

Abstract: While little North Korean legislation is available to scholars outside the DPRK, the legislative numbering usually given with every legal text allows us to measure the activity of all major institutions of the legal system. This study pioneers an approach to North Korean legal methods with a data set drawn from 4,000 legal changes enacted from 1945 to 2017 and collected from a large range of sources. Through this method, phases of higher activity can be identified for various institutions that were directly linked to reform efforts also reflected in other available evidence. Additionally, the position of Kim Il Sung (Kim Il-song, 김일성) and the effects of the succession to Kim Jong Il (Kim Chŏng’il, 김정일) can be traced through the legal system.

Keywords: North Korean law, legal system, parliament, cabinet, Supreme People’s Assembly, Presidium, Standing Committee, Supreme Commander, National Defense Commission, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il

Full text Unseen Laws, A Quantitative Approach to Developments in North Korea’s Legal System (available gratis until 15 July 2018)