The ROK Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is seeking researchers to review the potential improvement and revision of South Korean laws related to inter-Korean exchanges and economic cooperation, an announcement issued this month read.

The Unification Legal Affairs Division, which is in charge of planning “legal affairs and overhauls proposed legislation” in preparation for unification, released a proposal for the project on June 1 on the ministry’s website.

Potential subcontractors are being asked to “analyze the major contents and problems of the inter-Korean agreements” and means to resolve the legal issues that might arise if and when cooperation restarts.

Among the new laws needed, the justice ministry says, would be an “Agreement on Investment Protection between the South and the North.”

The two Koreas in 2000 signed an agreement on, among other issues, investment protection, prevention of double taxation of income, and procedures for the resolution of commercial disputes.

The laws came into effect in August 2003 after approval from the ROK National Assembly and the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), and the two Koreas later that year also signed an “Agreement on the Establishment and Operation of the South-North Arbitration Commission.”

The planned arbitration committee, however, never materialized, though a dedicated body was set up in September 2013 to focus on resolving disputes related to the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC).

This month’s proposal by the justice ministry saw Seoul stress the importance of revising the agreement on the South-North commission.

The news comes as several South Korean conglomerates and major banks launch task forces to prepare for potential economic cooperation with the North.

Pyongyang has several times unilaterally frozen the assets of both public and private South Korean bodies.

After the Park Geun-hye government announced the suspension of operations at the KIC in February 2016, the DPRK said it would confiscate all South Korean assets at the plant.

The North said the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC) would “completely freeze all assets including equipment, materials and products of the South Korean enterprises and relevant organs” at the KIC.

North Korean state-run media in October last year even claimed that Kaesong would be “more vigorously operated” in the future.

In April 2010, a spokesperson for the General Guidance Bureau for the Development of Scenic Spots announced that the DPRK would “soon start” tours of Mount Kumgang, which was halted in July 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.

The bureau said Pyongyang would freeze “the Mt. Kumgang Reunion Center and the fire brigade” belonging to the South Korean government as well as a “cultural center, a hot spring resort, and tax exemption office” owned by the Korea Tourism Organization.

In its proposal this month, the justice ministry also asked subcontractors to examine plans for revising major legislation related to the North-South exchanges, including the “Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act and Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act.”

That law requires South Koreans to obtain approval from the Minister of Unification if they want to visit the DPRK and must report any contact with North Koreans to the minister – rules the Moon administration hinted it might revise earlier in the year.

Edited by Oliver Hotham

Featured Image: Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)