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LawLegianceWorld Legal Atlas
New editioncountry guide

The North Korea Legal System

A complete plain-language guide to Democratic People's Republic of Korea

4.8(1129 reviews)From $29
Edition
2026 Edition
Extent
1963 pages
Language
English
ISBN
978-1-0000-199-1

About this book

A structured tour of how law actually works in North Korea — where it comes from, who makes it, which court hears what, and how an ordinary person or business interacts with the system. Written for readers with no legal training, with every institution named and every primary source cited so you can verify the position yourself. A socialist legal system subordinate to the Workers' Party of Korea. Codified law exists and some of it is published — a Civil Law (1990), a Family Law (1990), a Criminal Law repeatedly revised since 1950, and a growing body of foreign-investment and special-economic-zone legislation — but this profile describes the published statute book, which cannot be treated as a description of practice. There is no accessible body of case law, no independent bar, and no judicial review. The 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry documented a parallel extrajudicial system of political detention camps operating outside the published codes, and successive UN Special Rapporteur reports describe routine denial of the procedural rights the codes nominally confer. Every entry for this country should be read with that gap in mind.

What is inside

  • Full North Korea court hierarchy explained tier by tier
  • Named regulators with contact routes and response times
  • Step-by-step procedures for the most common legal tasks
  • Every claim footnoted to an official primary source
  • Glossary of local legal terminology in plain English

Table of contents

5 parts · 18 chapters

Part I — Foundations

  1. 01The legal tradition
  2. 02Constitutional framework
  3. 03Sources of law

Part II — Institutions

  1. 01The court hierarchy
  2. 02Government and regulators
  3. 03Enforcement bodies
  4. 04The legal profession

Part III — Everyday Law

  1. 01Work and employment
  2. 02Housing and property
  3. 03Family and personal status
  4. 04Criminal process

Part IV — Doing Things

  1. 01Starting a business
  2. 02Immigration and residence
  3. 03Tax obligations
  4. 04Making a complaint

Part V — Reference

  1. 01Procedure checklists
  2. 02Glossary
  3. 03Official sources index

Who this is for

  • Residents and newcomers who need to understand their rights
  • Businesses entering or operating in the jurisdiction
  • Lawyers taking a first look at an unfamiliar system
  • Students of comparative law

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