10권 2호_ 고상두_통일독일의 과거 청산과 한반도에의 함의

2006년 10권 2호. 통일독일의 과거 청산과 한반도에의 함의 _ 고상두

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After the unification in Germany, cleansing of the past became the subject of heated discussion. This paper tries to answer the question what punishment the Germans claimed for the outrage during the communist rule of East Germany. There are two kinds of wrongdoings during East German period. First, outrages committed by the political authority is called "state crime." Second, ordinary people have spied on their family, friends and neighbors collaborating with the security police so called Stasi. The documents produced by these collaborators amount to 178km. In the discussion on how to punish the wrongdoings committed during the communist rule, there emerged three solutions, namely, judicial settlement, people`s court, and general amnesty. In practice, the judicial settlement soon faced the barrier of legalism. Few crimes could accordingly be punished. This caused a rising demand for a people`s court. The special investigation commission launched by the German parliament took the task, though without judicial power. The general amnesty was not implemented, but came substantially in effect after the prescription for the punishment of the crime ended in 1997. We find some implications from the German experience for tasks after the future Korean unification. First, it would be difficult to punish for the outrage committed by Kim Jong Il regime, because the South Koreans themselves have failed to cleanse their own past, namely the collaborations during both the colonial rule and the military dictatorship. Second, the cleansing of the past should be therefore made from the position of victims. Wrongdoers should be punished, while victims be compensated. In this sense, it is more effective and recommendable to focus on compensation for victims of the North Korean dictatorship after unification on the Korean peninsula.

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