Like all other human activities, nuclear related activities have inherent risks of accidents; nucleal and radiological accidents do occur. All countries that engage in nuclear related activites therefore seek for legal ways to compensate for nuclear damage, enacting and enforcing special nuclear liability legislation. The Republic of Korea is not an exception; it has enacted and is enforcing the Nuclear Liability Act (January 24, 1969, Act No. 2094), the Act of Indemnity Agreement for Nuclear Liability(April 7, 1975, Act No. 2764) and their Enforcement Decrees(December 3, 1970, Presidential Decree No. 5396, and February 22, 1975, Presidential Decree No. 7755).
At the same time, however, nucleal damage is distinguished from other industrial damages, as it is transboundary: the consequence of nuclear and radiological accidents do have an impact on neighboring countris and persist a long period of time. As a result, the issue of compensatin for nucrear damage is often considered as an interational issue rather than a domestic one, and often causes a conflict among countries. Nuclear damage thus strongly requires an international nuclear liability regime.
This paper describes nuclear liability legislation in Korea, including the Nuclear Liability Act and the Act on Indemnity Agreement for Nucrear Liability, and compares them with legislation of other countries. The paper also examines civil liability for nuclear damage appeared in the international nuclear liability regime.