A Research on the Establishment of New Korea-Russia Bilateral Cooperation Law for the Sustainable Arctic Development

• Main Author: Bongchul Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: World Association for Triple Helix and Future Strategy Studies 2020-07-01
• Series: Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
• Subjects: sustainable arctic development; korea-russia fta; korea-eaeu fta; economic development of far east; northern sea route
• Online Access: http://koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO202021752885673.pdf

The Republic of Korea (Korea) and the Russian Federation (Russia) are actualizing the cooperation in the Arctic area. As a result, Korean companies have begun to enjoy real economic benefits. However, since there are some troublesome aspects associated with this cooperation, measures that can lead to sustainable development through the supplementation of relevant norms are critical. Russia is also aware of these problems in obtaining economic benefits in the future; cooperation between the two countries should be extended to sufficiently cover this point. The laws related to the region are vague and do not encompass every field. In addition, when it comes to national interests, many situations arise from areas where international and national laws are not clearly harmonized. Therefore, efforts should be made to reflect the interests of both sides and to maintain economic benefits, in case Korea participates in Russia's development of the area, as well as for the legal foundation to reduce negative issues. The Korea-Russia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation is on the track for the purpose. The two governments should consider various tasks, such as harmonizing with the former FTAs and dealing with the domestic law in accordance with the new FTA. The two countries also have to conduct researches on the efficient use of the FTA and for the ‘Sustainable Arctic Development’.