Beyond Feasibility: Implementing a Korea-US Reciprocal Defense Procurement (RDP) Agreement-Benchmark Treaty Templates, Clause-by-Clause Review, and Legal-Institutional Impact Analysis

초록

The necessity for defense cooperation between Korea and the United States and the policy demand for concluding an RDP Agreement are steadily increasing. However, concrete discussion and preparation for this remain insufficient. Addressing this issue, this study aims to identify the matters requiring prior discussion and preparation for the conclusion of an RDP Agreement, assess the impact on the legal and institutional framework, and suggest directions for its refinement. To this end, the study: 1) analyzed existing RDP Agreements through text-mining and clause by-clause review to identify the provisions requiring review, 2) assessed the impact on Korea’s laws and regulations, and 3) suggested directions for the improvement of the legal system. The research findings are as follows: First, the concluded RDP Agreements are categorized into four groups. Among these, Group 1 (Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, Finland, Czech, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Slovenia) was identified as the benchmark treaty templates group. Second, it was found that 46 provisions require review for the future conclusion of the RDP Agreement. Third, it was found that 46 provisions affect Korea’s laws and regulations. Fourth, Korea’s laws and regulations must be improved in a direction that implements the principle of “reciprocity” of the RDP Agreement while protecting Korea’s defense industry ecosystem.

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