북한의 핵무기비확산조약(NPT) 당사국 지위 = Is North Korea still a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)?

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

On 12 March 1993, North Korea notified 154 parties to the NPT and the United Nations Security Council of its withdrawal from it. The justifications for its withdrawal were the resumption of the Korea-United States Team Spirit military exercises and the resolution on special inspection adopted by the Board of Governors of the IAEA, which North Korea claimed was in violation of the Statute of the IAEA and the safeguards agreements concluded between it and the IAEA. Subsequently, having had negotiations with the United States, North Korea suspended the effectuation of its withdrawal. Ten years later, on 10 January 2003, however, it declared an automatic and immediate effectuation of its withdrawal from the NPT. Under Article X, paragraph 1, a party to it shall, in exercising its national sovereignty, have the right to withdraw from it if it decides that extraordinary events related to its subject matter have jeopardized its supreme interests. North Korea’s withdrawal seems to have satisfied the procedural requirements but not the substantive ones. The Korea- United States Team Spirit military exercises, being regularly conducted and of a defensive nature, could not be considered an extraordinary event related to the subject matter of the NPT. As the claim by North Korea that the resolution on special inspection adopted by the Board of Governors of the IAEA was in violation of the IAEA Statute and the safeguards agreements concluded between it and the IAEA was a groundless allegation, it could not be regarded as an extraordinary event either. Since January 2003, when North Korea declared that its withdrawal from the NPT would come into effect, the NPT Review Conference has been held four times, and a number of countries have expressed their views on the withdrawal clause of the NPT in writing. The Conference, having considered them, was not able to reach a consensus, though. From 2006 when North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, to 2017, when it did its sixth one, the Security Council adopted resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea. As they contain phrases strongly indicating that North Korea has not lost its party status with the NPT, the Security Council seems to have assessed that its NPT party status is still in place. If the Security Council fails to adopt a new resolution imposing additional sanctions on North Korea in the event of its seventh nuclear test, the NPT regime will face a serious challenge in the future.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

북한은 1993년 3월 12일 NPT로부터 탈퇴를 154개 NPT 당사국과 유엔안전보장 이사회에 통고하였다. 북한은 한･미 팀스피리트 훈련 재개와 IAEA 이사회의 대북 특별사찰 결의가 IAEA 규정과 IAEA와 북한이 체결한 안전조치 협정을 위반하였다는 점을 탈퇴 사유로 설명하였다. 그 후 미국과 협상을 진행한 북한은 탈퇴 통고 발효 요건인 3개월을 하루 앞두고 탈퇴 통고를 유예하였다. 그러나 10년이 경과한 2003년 1월 10일 북한은 탈퇴 통고가 자동적으로 즉각 발효한다고 발표하였다. NPT로부터 탈퇴를 규정하고 있는 제10조 제1항에 따르면 당사국은 국가 주권 행사의 일환으로 NPT로부터 탈퇴 권리 가지며, NPT 주제와 관련된 비상사태가 최고의 국가이익을 위태롭게 하는 경우 탈퇴를 결정한다. 북한의 NPT 탈퇴는 절차적 요건을 충족한 것으로 볼 수 있으나 실체적 요건은 충족하지 못한 것으로 보인다. 한･미 팀스피리트 훈련 재개는 정례적으로 실시되는 방어적 훈련으로 NPT 주제와 관련된 비상사태로 볼 수 없으며 IAEA 이사회가 채택한 대북 특별사찰 결의가 IAEA 규정 및 북한이 IAEA와 체결한 안전조치 협정을 위반하였다는 북한의 주장도 근거가 없는 주장으로 비상 태에 해당한다고 볼 수 없기 때문이다. 2003년 1월 북한이 NPT 탈퇴 통고가 효력을 발생한다고 선언한 이후 4차례 개최된 NPT 평가회의에 NPT 탈퇴 조항에 관해 다수의 국가들이 문서로 입장을 표명하였다. 이를 바탕으로 탈퇴 조항에 관한 논의가 NPT 평가회의에서 있었으나 컨세서스에는 이르지 못하였다. 2006년 북한의 1차 핵실험 후 2017년 6차 핵실험 때까지 유엔안전보장이사회는 대북 제재 결의를 채택하였다. 이 대북 제재 결의에는 북한의 NPT 당사국 지위가 상실되지 않았다는 걸 강하게 시사하는 표현이 사용되고 있어 안전보장이사회는 북한의 NPT 당사국 지위가 여전히 유지되고 있는 걸로 판단하고 있다고 본다. 그러나 북한이 앞으로 7차 핵실험을 단행하였을 때 안전보장이사회가 대북 추가 제재 결의 채택에 실패하게 되면 이는 향후 NPT 체제는 심각한 도전에 직면하게 될 것이다.

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