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Abstrac
Broadcasting Exchange between South and North Korea and Copyright Protection
Kyong - Soo Choe
North Korea adopted in April 2001 the Copyright Act for the first time in history. It incorporates general rules and principles of copyright protection in harmony with the socialist system. While it recognizes moral rights and economic rights of natural persons, it does not protect works which are not allowed for publication and distribution in its territory and royalty rates are determined by the competent authorities. There have been a lot of legal disputes in regard to the protection of North Korean works. Some works were created by the authors when they were in the South and others were made by the North Koreans. Whatever they may be, the Supreme Court has upheld the position that, since North Korea is part of the Korean territory under the Constitution, any works of Korean origin are protected regardless of the place of creation. However it has not been possible to protect South Korean works in the North. The enactment of the Act is regarded as a sign of open - door policy. It will accelerate the cultural and economic exchange and cooperation between North and South and eventually the conclusion of a special agreement between each other for the mutual protection of copyright. The agreement, based on the principle of reciprocity, would provide a minimum level of protection and apply directly or indirectly to copyright businesses with the help of the would - be Joint Copyright Committee and copyright intermediaries on both sides. The Committee is going to be a liaison office between the two parties for practical application of the agreement and the intermediaries will handle how to make legal any use of copyright materials by the person of the other party. |
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