Because of the heightened concerns over terrorism and national security raised by the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States(U.S.), multilateral export control regimes tightened export controls of dual-use goods and technology for national security. Dual-use items are goods or technology that are commercial or civil in nature and can be used to produce dangerous weaponry. Multilateral export control regimes initiated by U.S. seek to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons.
The four principal regimes are the Wassenaar Arrangementon Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods and Technologies(WA); the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG); the Australia Group Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Control Regime(AG); the Missile Technology Control Regime(MTCR). The Republic of Korea(R.O.K.) and U.S. are members of all four regimes. The Export Control Regulations of U.S. and R.O.K. apply to exports of civilian and dual-use goods, software, and technology. Strategic export controls for national security may be justified as lawful under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Article XXI) and the World Trade Organization Agreements.
However, multilateral and national export controls system may impede the expansion of economic cooperations between South Korea(Republic of Korea) and North Korea(People's Republic of Korea). With a view to carrying out successfully economic cooperations with North Korea, a strategy to enhance the effectiveness of export control system should be reviewed. In this context, this article proposed a transparent and explicit criteria for assessing dual-use and a flexible interpretation on dual-use items in consideration of foreign availability.