Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Republic of Korea—South Korea—has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. It continues to insist on the military necessity of antipersonnel mines, while acknowledging their negative humanitarian impact.

On 3 December 2012, South Korea abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 67/32 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has in previous years. South Korea has stated for many years that the security situation on the Korean Peninsula prohibits it from acceding to the treaty.[1]

South Korea has never sent an observer delegation to a meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, including in 2012. Its last attendance at an intersessional Standing Committee meeting was 2008. However, South Korea did attend the Bangkok Symposium on Enhancing Cooperation & Assistance in June 2013 in Bangkok.

In April 2011, Prince Mired Raad Al Hussein, the Special Envoy on Universalization for the Mine Ban Treaty, visited South Korea where he met with the Deputy Minister for Policy of the Ministry of National Defense, the Deputy Minister of Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Chief of the High Court of the Korean Armed Forces to explore ways that South Korea may wish to engage in the work of the treaty.[2]

Laws proposing compensation for civilian mine victims within the country and to allow for mine clearance by civilian organizations, pending before the National Assembly in 2012, did not pass prior to dissolution of the assembly and national elections.[3] The Korean Campaign to Ban Landmines / Peace Sharing Association (KCBL/PSA) has been championing the act for compensation for civilian landmine victims. Both acts were resubmitted to the new National Assembly in January 2013.

In June 2013, Jong-soo Kim, a civilian landmine victim, and Jai-kook Cho, the Coordinator of KCBL/PSA, made presentations to the National Assembly during a public hearing regarding the Act for Compensation for Civilian Mine Victims. Representatives of the military and the government legal services branch also made presentations regarding the proposed act. As of 9 September, the Act for Compensation for Civilian Mine Victims was still pending in the Committee on National Defense within the National Assembly. Despite widespread support among legislators, the Ministry of Law and Justice opposed the Act due to the retroactive character of the legislation, which conflicts with the existing general national compensation law. As a result, the Office of the Prime Minister has launched an investigation into the situation of civilian mine victims in order to make a compromise with the Ministry of Law and Justice on the proposed act.

As of 9 September, the draft of the Act on Demining Business by Private Organizations was also pending in the Committee on National Defense in the National Assembly. The draft was submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of National Defense in its former session and by a parliamentarian in the current session. A hearing on the act is scheduled for November 2013. The Act on Demining Business by Private Organizations is expected to be influenced by the debating process of the draft of the Act for Compensation for Civilian Mine Victims.[4]

In May 2013, KCBL/PSA organized a two-day exhibition at the Gangwon Provincial Administration Office, presenting the situation of mine victims within the province and calling on the national assembly to pass a compensation act for victims. The provincial governor, assembly members, and officials attended the exhibition. In March 2013, KCBL/PSA organized a one-month exhibition held at the Palais de Seoul gallery which included 153 works of art created by 20 artists, sculptors, and photographers on the theme of “peace sharing for civilian landmine victims.” In April 2013, KCBL/PSA held a two-day exhibition in the main lobby of the National Assembly. The exhibition focused attention on the need for the proposed Act for Compensation for Civilian Mine Victims, which is currently before the National Assembly for consideration.[5]

South Korea is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. On 30 March 2012, South Korea submitted its annual CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report.[6]

In March 2012, ICBL Youth Ambassador Song Kosal urged South Korean authorities to join the Mine Ban Treaty during his visit to South Korea to receive the 2012 Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Award.[7]

Use, production, and transfer

South Korea informed the Monitor that it did not engage in any new use of antipersonnel mines, including replacing mines in existing minefields.[8] South Korea has previously maintained that it has not used mines in many years.

South Korea reported to the Monitor that it did not use, import, export, or purchase antipersonnel mines from foreign companies during 2011 or early 2012.[9]

However, production of mines has continued. In 2011, a private South Korean company, Hanwha Corporation, produced 4,000 KM74 antipersonnel mines.[10] In 2007, the Hanwha Corporation produced about 10,000 self-destructing antipersonnel mines, as well as an unknown number of Claymore directional fragmentation mines.[11]

In both 2012 and 2011, Foreign Ministry officials stated that the government commissioned the development of remotely-controlled mines which will replace antipersonnel mines and that the newly developed mines will meet the requirements set out in the Amended Protocol II to the CCW.[12]

South Korea has stated on several occasions that it has “faithfully enforced an indefinite extension of the moratorium on the export of AP [antipersonnel] mines since 1997.”[13]

Stockpiling

In 2012, South Korean officials declined to reveal to the Monitor the size of South Korea’s stockpile and the types of mines stockpiled.[14] In 2011, South Korean officials stated that information regarding its stockpile was classified.[15] However, South Korea said in 2006 and 2008 that its stockpile consisted of 407,800 antipersonnel mines.[16] In the past, the government stated that it held a stockpile of about 2 million antipersonnel mines.[17]

South Korea told the Monitor in 2012 that it did not destroy any stockpiled mines during 2011.[18] However, South Korea reported in 2011 that it had destroyed 18,464 antipersonnel mines (5,132 M14; 12,086 M16; and 1,246 M18) in the ammunition units where they were stored during 2010. The date(s) of the destruction and reason for this action were not specified.[19]

The United States (US) military keeps a substantial number of remotely-delivered, self-destructing antipersonnel mines in South Korea. In 2005, the South Korean government reported that the US held 40,000 GATOR, 10,000 Volcano, and an unknown number of MOPMS mines.[20]

For many years, the US military also stockpiled about 1.1 million M14 and M16 non-self-destructing antipersonnel mines for use in any future war in Korea, with about half the total kept in South Korea and half in the continental US.[21] Most of the US-owned mines located in South Korea have been part of the more extensive War Reserve Stocks for Allies, Korea (WRSA-K). On 30 December 2005, the US enacted a law authorizing the sale of items in the WRSA-K to South Korea during a three-year period, after which the WRSA-K program would be terminated, which occurred at the end of 2008.[22] In June 2009, the South Korean government told the Monitor, “AP [antipersonnel] mines were not included in the list of items for sale or transfer in the WRSA-K negotiations, and therefore, no AP-mines were bought or obtained.”[23] In June 2011, a Foreign Ministry official stated that South Korea safeguards a stockpile of antipersonnel mines that belongs to the US military on its territory as part of the WRSA-K program. These mines are planned to be gradually transferred out of South Korea.[24] In June 2012, a Foreign Ministry official stated that the antipersonnel mines are in ammunition storage within Secure Areas of the US Forces Korea.[25]

The law ending the program states that any items remaining in the WRSA-K at the time of termination “shall be removed, disposed of, or both by the Department of Defense.”[26] Moreover, US policy has prohibited the use of non-self-destructing antipersonnel mines in South Korea since 2010. According to documents released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Monitor in 2013, the WRSA-K stockpile included 480,267 M-14 antipersonnel mines and 83,319 M-16 antipersonnel mines.[27] The US has previously destroyed all non-self-destructing mines not dedicated for potential use in Korea.