선박재활용으로 인한 환경오염 피해는 국제해운에서 과거부터 지속적으로 제기되어져 오던 문제이다. 특히, 동남아시아 지역의 선박재활용 환경 문제는 유럽 및 선진국에 소재한 선박소유주들로부터 비롯되고 있다는 여러 보고들이 최근 유럽의 비정부기관과 사회단체들로부터 발표되고 있다. 국제사회는 이러한 환경피해를 막기 위해 여러 가지 국제 및 지역적 규제를 개발해오고 있지만, 관할권 및 제도적 한계, 그리고 선주의 의도적 법률 우회로 인해 제도적 실효성에 의문점이 많은 상태이다. 이에 본 논문에서는 선박재활용과 관련된 현 국제조약 및 제도들이 선박소유자들의 편의치적 사용으로 인한 관련 제도 집행력의 부족과 선박 매매 중계자로 인한 실제 선박소유주 식별의 어려움으로 인해 그 실효성을 확보하기 어렵다고 보고, 이를 보완하기 위한 새로운 국제제도 필요성에 대해 알아본다. 특히, 본 논문에서는 선박재활용으로 인한 환경피해를 중심으로 그 피해를 보상하기 위해 선박소유자의 책임을 국제환경법 원칙 (오염자부담원칙 및 월경(越境)피해 책임 원칙)을 통해 어떻게 부과할 수 있는 지에 대해 중점적으로 알아보고자 한다.

The protection of the marine environment is one of the main international legal problems in recent years. In parallel with the industrial development, a great quantity of chemical materials were used and in consequence, mass transportation of oil and other dangerous materials was required on the one hand, and discharge of industrial wasters drew also the attention on the other hand. Furthermore, oil tankers accidents, mass use of nuclear materials, sea-bed exploration and exploitation stimulated further deep human concern on the marine environment. The expansion of international concern to new and more dangerous sources of marine pollution regarded more strict and legal control on the Oil Tanker(DWT 95, 000tons, Cb=0.805) model. Calculation results are compared to the international, especially regional level. In particular, this study is concerned with the preservation of the Northeast Asian Seas surrounded by Japan, the Russian Far East, South Korea, North Korea, China and Taiwan. These adjacent countries must intensify cooperation regarding the prevention, reduction and control of the contamination of the sea. And this cooperation between the States concerned should, as much as possible, be aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of measures to prevent or abate transboundary environmental pollution. To achieve this purpose, States concerned should be imposed upon duties such as duty to assess the environmental impact, duty to inform, duty to consult and duty to assist on the basis of general principle of international law, international customary law and other various resolutions of international bodies. Depending on the nature and extent of actual or potential transboundary pollution with the use of a natural resource or the environment in general the establishment of some form of institutionalized cooperation between the States concerned may become useful or indispensable. The functions of this Organization are, inter alia, to keep the implementation of the Convention and the protocals under continuous observation, to make recommendations on regional or sub-regional rules and standards to be elaborated and on measures to be taken by the Contracting Parties, to be notified of any grave and imminent danger from pollution or threat of pollution by the Contracting Parties and to promote in close cooperation with appropriate governmental bodies additional measures to protect the marine environment of the Northeast Asian Seas, and so on. Above mentioned countries, first of all, are located within the Northeast Asian Seas geographically and, therefore, take responsibilities of preserving the clean sea against marine interferences regardless of any difference of the social, political and economic systems. They must be followed under the UNCLOS and other marine conventions. Under the present circumstances, Northeast Asian Seas will become dead seas in case that there is no instant and prompt action against pollution. Hence we have an absolute obligation to promote the development of the mandatory international environmental law, which in turn can faciliate more effective implementation of the regional cooperation by the neighbouring states within this area.