Suggested citations
AGLC4 | 항만법 2013 [Ports Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (2013)] [tr Daye Gang].
Bluebook | Hangmanbeob 2013 [Ports Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (2013)] translated in Law and North Korea by Daye Gang, https://www.lawandnorthkorea.com/.
Adopted on September 4, 1986, as Decision No. 21 of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly
Amended and supplemented on March 11, 1999, as Directive No. 507 of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly
Amended and supplemented on December 12, 2013, as Directive No. 3500 of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly
CHAPTER I. BASICS OF PORTS LAW
Article 1
Ports are the gateway to the country and are precious wealth achieved by relying upon the creative labour of the working people. The State shall fully use ports for national economic development and for promoting the well-being of workers.
Article 2
Actively developing and using ports is a compulsory requirement to develop marine transportation. The State shall repair and extend ports according to the development of the national economy, and shall construct new ports so that they have good prospects.
Article 3
Ports management is important work to assure the proper operation of ports. The State shall correctly adopt systems and order for ports and protect them so that ports facilities are not damaged or destroyed.
Article 4
Operating ports well is a decisive condition for increasing port transit volume in conformity with the transportation demands of a developing national economy. The State shall improve a ports operation system and shall unify, regularize, and standardize ports work.
Article 5
Labour work in ports is an important guarantee to assure the safe sailing of ships. The State shall well manage port labour facilities and shall actively open up labour activities for ships, sailors, and passengers.
Article 6
The State shall place great strength in the research work required to solve the scientific and technical issues arising in ports construction, management, and operation.
Article 7
The State shall develop exchange and cooperation in the ports work field based on the principles of complete equality, independence, mutual respect, and mutual benefit with other countries treating our country in a friendly manner
Article 8
International conventions involving ports relationships approved by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea shall bear the same legal effect as this law.
CHAPTER II. PORTS CONSTRUCTION
Article 9
Repairing and extending ports and constructing them so they have good prospects is important work to increase the berth capacity and port capacity of ports. Shipping institutions and authorities concerned shall adopt a ports construction plan based on the overarching land construction plan and must construct ports in a modern way.
Article 10
Ports design institutions must correctly investigate and command things such as the type of cargo transiting the port and its direction of circulation, the geological and topographical conditions, meteorological and hydrological conditions, and marine conditions before designing a port.
Article 11
Ports construction shall be done directly by the institution that commissions the construction, or may be done on the basis of a contract between the institution that commissions the construction and the builder-engineer institution. A builder-engineer institution must qualitatively construct the construction subject according to the approved design and the requirements of the construction contract.
Article 12
Port structures, including breakwaters and wharfs, must be constructed at ports. Port structures must not interfere with the anchoring or navigation of ships, and must be able to protect ships from natural disasters.
Article 13
Ports must construct the facilities required for loading, unloading, or transporting cargo, such as cranes, automated cargo ships, pipelines, and conveyor belts.
Article 14
At a port must be constructed warehouses and loading stations in conformity with the scale and nature of the port and the port capacity. Transit warehouses and loading stations in trade ports must be constructed in a place that is further away from the port.
Article 15
Railways shall be constructed at ports so that they are advantageous for cargo work and so they can reduce stationary periods for freight cars, and must construct ring roads in conformity with increases in cargo transportation means.
Article 16
Waterway markings, including lighthouses, must be installed at ports according to hydrographic requirements. Large-scale ports must have signing facilities, time notification facilities, and ocean and weather observation facilities.
Article 17
Fishing ports must have good fish handling facilities, manufacturing facilities, and storage facilities. Refrigeration factories must be constructed at large fishing ports.
Article 18
Ports handling passengers must manage passenger wharfs and different labour facilities well to guarantee safe and cultural passenger transportation by ships.
Article 19
Builder-engineer institutions must receive a pre-delivery inspection for the construction after the port construction is completed. The institution that commissioned the construction must receive construction that has passed the pre-delivery inspection.
Article 20
State planning institutions, authorities concerned, and enterprise must correctly interconnect the facilities and resources required for ports construction with the plans, and must guarantee production in time.
CHAPTER III. PORTS MANAGEMENT
Article 21
Doing ports management work well is the duty of institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens. Institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens shall willingly abide by the systems and order adopted for ports and participate in ports management as if they are the owners.
Article 22
The work of establishing port security shall be done by the Cabinet or the local political institutions.
Article 23
Ports management shall be done by the ports operation institution. In cases where one port is used by many institutions, enterprises and organizations, it shall be managed according to the decisions of Cabinet.
Article 24
Ports operation institutions shall normally do technical analysis on ports facilities such as breakwaters, and must repair damaged ports facilities in time.
Article 25
Ports operation institutions, enterprises, and the authorities concerned shall normally dredge the piers and seaways of ports to assure the safe berthing and sailing of ships. In cases where dredging or salvaging work is to be done in port waters, given safety measures must be adopted.
Article 26
Ports operation institutions must thoroughly adopt a well-planned prevention and maintenance system for facilities loading, unloading, or transporting cargo and must qualitatively maintain and repair them in time according to the maintenance cycle. Facilities that have not passed technical inspection may not be operated.
Article 27
Ports operation institutions and authorities concerned must normally maintain and service warehouses and loading stations by interconnecting them with the maintenance plan. In waterhouses and loading stations shall be determined passageways and districts for stacking cargo, and cargo must be stored by type.
Article 28
Railway transportation institutions and ports operation institutions must normally maintain and service railways and roads at ports. At crossings and places with complex traffic, safety measures must be adopted to prevent accidents in advance.
Article 29
Ports operation institutions must well manage ports operation facilities such as water supply, fuel supply, sewage, and electricity supply facilities, and must normally maintain and service them.
Article 30
Seaway marker institutions, ports operation institutions, and other authorities concerned shall modernize and normally manage sea markers, signage facilities, time notification facilities, and ocean and weather observation facilities. Institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens must not do acts that cause inconvenience to the sailing of ships by damaging facilities such as seaway markers.
Article 31
Ports operation institutions and authorities concerned must strongly manage repair bases at important ports such as trade ports.
Article 32
Ports operation institutions shall surface areas inside the port well, including the wharf, and must always manage them economically. Local political institutions, authorities concerned, and enterprises must afforest and well manage the surroundings of ports.
Article 33
No buildings or facilities may be kept or constructed within ports which are not related to ports administration and operation. In cases where institutions, enterprises and organizations including port institutions seek to newly construct or demolish a building or facility inside a port, the approval of the authorities concerned must be received.
Article 34
Industrial waste, poisons, or dirty substances may not be dumped or leaked in port waters. In cases where ships are sailing or anchored in port waters, they must not dump or drop garbage, wastewater, or oil.
Article 35
Institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens must not set off explosives or do acts that cause inconvenience to safety at a port without the approval of the authorities concerned.
Article 36
Ports operation institution and institutions, enterprises and organizations using ports must adopt measures to protect facilities and supplies at ports from fires and natural disasters. The work of operating flammable substances and explosive substances, including fuel, must be done at a designated wharf or place.
Article 37
Ships of other countries may come and go from trade ports at any time, except in cases where the law has determined separately.
Article 38
Ships of other countries seeking to come into a port of our country must fly the national flag of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Article 39
Ships coming and going from ports must submit to the directions of the ports operation institution, and must thoroughly abide by the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea and the maritime navigation rules of the given waters.
Article 40
Ports operation institutions must decide upon a berth for a ship that has come into a port, and must allow the ship to anchor safely. In cases where an issue related to the safety of the ship has been raised by the Captain, the content of that issue must be soon confirmed and given measures must be adopted.
Article 41
Ships shall abide by the order of berthing and unberthing at the wharf and must not damage or destroy ports facilities. Ships may not be berthed and cargo may not be dealt with at breakwaters or at shore protection structures that have no berthing facilities.
Article 42
Ships of other countries may not use depth sounding, radio detection, or wireless communication equipment at ports without the approval of the authorities concerned.
Article 43
Citizens must strictly abide by the order of entry at ports. They may not come and go from a port or embark or disembark from a ship without the approval of the authorities concerned.
Article 44
Ports operation institutions must thoroughly adopt a conduct system for the safe sailing and salvage of ships in port waters. In cases where a ship staying in a berth has discovered a disaster at sea, it shall immediately inform the ports operation institution and must be mobilized in the salvage operation according to the requirements of the authorities concerned.
CHAPTER IV. PORTS OPERATION
Article 45
Ports are the base of marine transportation. Port institutions shall load and unload cargo in time and must do technical labour for ships well to decrease the berthing time of a ship.
Article 46
The foundation of port operation is ship handling. A Ports Joint Committee shall be established on a non-standing basis at trade ports to handle ships in a standardized way.
Article 47
The work of determining the standard amount of work for loading or unloading cargo for a ship at a trade port shall be done by the Cabinet.
Article 48
Port institutions shall conclude work contracts with agents for freight owners or agents for shipowners and must correctly fulfil them.
Article 49
The handling of ships shall be done in the order they come into the port, after our country’s ships and ships with urgent circumstances.
Article 50
Relevant institutions in trade ports must work with ships of other countries with the agreement of agents for shipowners.
Article 51
Admission and departure approval for ships shall be done by the harbour affairs supervision institution. When the harbour affairs supervision institution receives an admission or departure application from a ships operation institution or an agent for a shipowner, it shall organize the inspection of the ship and its seaway guidance.
Article 52
Ships of other countries and trade ships from our country must receive admission and departure inspections. Admission and departure inspections shall be done by the given inspection institution at the port under the conduct of the harbour affairs supervision institution. A ship that has not received an inspection or passed an inspection may not enter or exit a port.
Article 53
Ships of other countries coming and going from trade ports must receive seaway guidance from a seaway guidance awaiting point. Seaway guidance shall be done by the seaway guidance institution. Seaway guidance for ships of our country shall be done according to the request of the Captain.
Article 54
The Captain of a ship that has come into a port must complete the entrance inspection, then must finish the labour safety measures and work preparation, then must submit the work preparation completion notification to the agents for the freight owners.
Article 55
The work of gathering cargo at the port shall be done by the institution that owns the freight. The institution that owns the freight must interconnect to ship scheduling and gather the cargo in time so that there is no interference to cargo work.
Article 56
Cargo work shall be done according to the cargo work request documents submitted by the agents for freight owners or the agents for shipowners. Cargo work request documents shall be submitted within the period determined.
Article 57
The work of loading or unloading cargo from ships may only be done according to the cargo loading floor plan, the cargo work technical schedule, and the cargo handling manual. Port institutions must mechanize the work of loading, unloading, or transporting cargo.
Article 58
The work of sending imported goods from a port to the consumer institution shall be done by agents for freight owners. Agents for freight owners must send imported goods to consumer institutions in time. Transportation institutions must preferentially guarantee the freight cars and cars required for transporting imported goods.
Article 59
Cargo may not be piled up in a port for a long time. The institution that owns the freight may temporarily store cargo to be loaded from a ship and cargo unloaded from a ship inside the port. In cases where the cargo was stored, a given storage charge must be paid. In cases where stored cargo is not collected within the designated period, port institutions may handle it with the approval of the Cabinet.
Article 60
Handing over and receiving cargo at a port shall be done between the transportation institution and the agents for freight owners, and between the agents for freight owners and the ports institution. An institution that has received cargo must take responsibility for accidents created through its error until the period of handing the cargo over.
Article 61
Inspections when cargo is loaded or unloaded from ships shall be done by the State inspection institution, and draft measurement for bulky cargo shall be done by the foreign product inspection institution. The State inspection institution and the foreign product inspection institution must correctly do cargo inspection and draft measurement.
Article 62
Port institutions and the authorities concerned must assure ship operating supplies in time, including water, fuel, and components. Foreign service institutions shall make sufficient and cultural resting conditions for sailors and must assure them food including vegetables.
Article 63
Calculations and settlements for port expenses shall be done each time a ship enters and exits a port. Ship operation institutions of other countries must make advance payment for port costs into the account of the designated bank before the ship arrives at the port.
Article 64
The operation of domestic transportation ports, industrial ports, fishing ports, and passenger ports shall follow separately determined regulations.
CHAPTER V. GUIDANCE AND CONTROL FOR PORTS WORK
Article 65
Strengthening guidance and control over ports work is an important guarantee to improve ports work. The authorities concerned must normally command ports construction, management, and operation work and provide guidance and control.
Article 66
Institutions, enterprises and organizations seeking to conduct port operations must receive permission to operate from the central marine guidance institution. In these cases, the institutions, enterprises and organizations seeking to operate a port must submit a submission document containing things such as the name, place of business, type of business, port name, the basis of approval from the State, the documents showing that the agreement of the relevant institutions has been received related to creating a port, land resource use and construction licenses, and documents showing that a pre-delivery inspection has been received. The central marine guidance institution must correctly review the application document and must issue an operating permit. A port may not be operated without an operating permit.
Article 67
In cases where sea markers or port facilities have been damaged or destroyed, they must be destroyed or the given damage must be compensated, and in cases where port waters have been filled in or polluted with industrial by-products, garbage, poisonous materials, wastewater, or oil, a penalty shall be imposed.
Article 68
In cases where a ship of another country has conducted depth sounding or radio detection, or has used wireless communication equipment without the approval of the authorities concerned, the given equipment or ship may be confiscated.
Article 69
In cases where a penalty related to not keeping the system or order established in a port is not paid during the period determined, or where payment for port expenses is refused, the given ship or people may be seized.
Article 70
Responsible workers of institutions, enterprises and organizations and individual citizens who have caused grave consequences to port construction, management, or operation by violating this law, administrative or criminal responsibility shall be imposed depending on the gravity.
Last updated 30 January 2022