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Research guide: DISEC

➢ Agenda 1: Resolving the conflict in the Korean Peninsula with special emphasis

on averting a nuclear war

Introduction

In 2017, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) conducted a series

of missile and nuclear tests that demonstrated the country's ability to launch ballistic

missiles beyond its immediate region and suggested that North Korea's nuclear

weapons capability was developing at a rate faster than what had been assessed by

the U.S. intelligence community. This, along with a regular joint U.S.–South Korea

military exercise undertaken in August as well as U.S. retaliatory threats, raised

international tensions within the region and beyond.

Historical Background

Japan annexed the Korean peninsula in East Asia in 1910, and the peninsula remained

under Japanese military rule for the next 35 years, until its defeat in the Second World

War. Subsequently, U.S. troops landed in the southern region of the peninsula while

Soviet forces occupied the area north of latitude 38˚ N, splitting the Korean peninsula

along what is also known as the 38th parallel.

In 1946, the communist Korean Worker’s Party was established in North Korea,

officially known as Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 1948, and Soviet-

backed leadership was installed, with Pyongyang as the capital. Kim Il-Sung emerged

as the first premier of the newly established country. He would later be succeeded by

his son, Kim Jong-il, and later, his grandson, Kim Jong-un.

Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly sanctioned elections held in the southern

region and a constitution was adopted. Officially known as the Republic of Korea,

South Korea was established, with Seoul as its capital.

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In 1950, 75,000 troops from the Soviet-backed North invaded the South, thus marking

the beginning of what came to be known as the Korean War. This conflict lasted for

three years, with the North being supported by China and the South being backed

principally by the US, and resulted in the loss of nearly 2.5 million lives. The fighting

came to an end in July 1953 when an armistice agreement was signed between the

two states and a 2.5 mile wide Demilitarized Zone was created to separate the North

from the South.

Since then, tensions among North and South Korea have been high and have, over the

years, ensued among their powerful allies too.

North Korea’s Nuclear Program

The beginning of North Korea’s Nuclear Program can be traced back to the Cold War

when, in the 1950s, the Soviet Union, North Korea’s main economic ally, began

training Korean scientists and engineers, laying the foundation for nuclear

development. The Soviet Union also signed a Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with

North Korea, under which it would provide basic nuclear training and technology to

its Korean allies. According to various sources, the Korean War had convinced leader

Kim Il Sung — who ruled the nation from 1948 to 1994 — that the country needed to

protect itself from the U.S.

Since then, Pyongyang has developed a nuclear fuel cycle capability and has both

plutonium and enriched uranium programs capable of producing fissile material.

Between the years 2006 and 2017, it has conducted six nuclear weapons tests.

Furthermore, in September 2016, the regime claimed it had successfully built a

warhead small enough to fit onto the end of a missile and warned its “enemies” that it

had the ability to counter any attacks.

The test conducted in September 2017 had a substantially higher explosive yield than

all previous tests, leading experts to believe that it was a thermonuclear weapon or

a boosted fission nuclear weapon. Prior to the test, North Korean state media had

released imagery of what they claimed was a thermonuclear bomb that could be

mated to an ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile). Pyongyang claims the device

was a hydrogen bomb that could be mounted on an ICBM. North Korea had

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successfully flight tested its first ICBM a few months back, significantly, on the 4th of

July, 2017 (the American Day of Independence). In 2006, after North Korea started

test firing long range missiles, the UN Security Council imposed a range of sanctions

relating to trade and travel on the country.

Every subsequent test has led to the imposition of sanctions with progressively greater

degrees of severity by the UNSC. Sanctions imposed in 2017, are considered to be the

harshest thus far as it includes a ban on the country’s textile exports and a ceiling on

its crude oil imports.

Global concerns over North Korea’s nuclear capabilities have spiked again and the

unanimous belief in the international community is that strict action needs to be taken

to tackle what is being called a “global threat”.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is an international

treaty whose objective is “to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons

technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to

further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament, and general and complete

disarmament”. It came into force in 1970 and was extended indefinitely in 1995. A

total of 191 states have joined the treaty, including five nuclear weapons states.

One significant feature of the NPT is the establishment of a safeguards system under

the responsibility of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Safeguards are

used to verify compliance with the Treaty through inspections conducted by the

IAEA.

In 1985, North Korea signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons. In 1993, in accordance with the NPT, the International Atomic Energy

Agency (IAEA) demanded that its inspectors be given access to two nuclear waste

storage sites. In response, North Korea threatened to quit the NPT but eventually

chooses to continue participating in the treaty.

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In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an agreement where, among other

stipulations, North Korea pledged to freeze their old, graphite-moderated nuclear

reactors in exchange for international aid to build two new light-water reactors.

However, in October 2002, it was revealed that North Korea had admitted to

operating a secret nuclear weapons program, in violation of the 1994 agreement.

Eventually, in January 2003, North Korea withdrew from the NPT and in April of the

same year, officially declared that it had nuclear weapons.

Current day situation

On August 8, 2017, President Donald Trump warned that North Korean nuclear

threats would "be met with fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which the world

has never seen before", after the media reported that a US intelligence assessment had

found that the country had successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead

capable of fitting inside its missiles. President Trump also remarked that North

Korea's leader Kim Jong Un "has been very threatening beyond a normal state."

Within hours, North Korea responded by announcing that it was considering attacking

U.S. military bases in the US territory of Guam.

The North Korean governmental news agency KCNA reported that Kim Jong-un's

military was considering a plan to fire four ICBMs into the Philippine Sea, just 30–40

km away from the island Guam and that the plan would be put into action in mid-

August.

On August 11, Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that ″military solutions″ were "fully

in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely". Former U.S.

Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and former U.S. Secretary of

Defense Leon Panetta stated that the standoff between the U.S. and North Korea

over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program was comparable to that witnessed during

the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On August 29, just before 6:00 AM Japan Standard Time, North Korea launched a

missile which flew over Hokkaido, Japan. The missile reached an altitude of 550 km

and flew a total distance of around 2,700 km before crashing into the Pacific. This

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was the third time, with two prior events in 1998 and 2009 that a North Korean

missile had passed over Japanese territory. However, in both of the previous cases,

North Korea had claimed that they were launching satellites. The launch was

scheduled on the 107th anniversary of the Japan-Korea annexation treaty,

and KCNA said that it was "a bold plan to make the cruel Japanese islanders

insensible on bloody August 29".

An emergency UN Security Council meeting was called for later that day to discuss

the event. In a statement issued by the White House in response to the launch, US

President Donald Trump said that "All options are on the table" regarding North

Korea.

On September 14, North Korea issued a threat to "sink" Japan, and turn the US to

"ashes and darkness". The next day, an IRBM was fired from near Pyongyang and

flew over Hokkaido, Japan before splashing down in the western Pacific about 2000

km off Cape Erimo at about 7:16 AM local time.

The missile traveled about 3,700 km during its 19 minute flight and was recorded as

the furthest any North Korean IRBM missile has gone beyond Japan. On September

18, North Korea announced that any further sanctions would only lead to the

acceleration of their nuclear program.

On September 20, U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order that further

toughened U.S. sanctions against North Korea: the U.S. Treasury was thereby

authorized to target firms and financial institutions conducting business with North

Korea.

On September 25, North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho accused Trump of

declaring war on his country, referring to Trump's recent tweet that North Korea

"won't be around much longer." The White House responded that the USA has not

declared war.

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Tensions among the North Korea and the United States of America have only been

rising since then and concerns over an imminent nuclear war are being raised every

day in the international community.

QARMAs

● How can the tensions among North Korea and the international community be

resolved? Is the military option a viable one?

● What incentives can be given North Korea to prevent it from turning the world

into a nuclear arena?

● How should future control over nuclear warfare be established?

● How can the production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons of counties not

signatories on the NPT be regulated?

● Is complete nuclear disarmament an option that can be realistically

considered?

➢ Agenda 2: Discussing regulations on the use of drones, cluster ammunition and

chemical weapons as a means of modern warfare

Drone warfare

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), also known as drones, are aircrafts either

controlled by pilots on the ground or increasingly, autonomously following a pre-

programmed mission embedded in their system, with the help of sensors and GPS.

Drones mainly fall into two categories: those used for reconnaissance and surveillance

purposes and those that are armed with bombs and missiles. While the earliest

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attempts at developing drone technologies, that is reconnaissance UAVs, can be

traced back to WWI and the Vietnam War, the emergence of armed or military drones

is much more recent.

The latter are generally used in drone strikes, where the drone fires a missile at a

specified target. Most drone strikes in recent times have been carried out by the

United States military in areas such as Yemen and Pakistan, using air-to-surface

missiles. Officially referred to as Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs), the use

and development of drones with attack capacities increased dramatically after the 9/11

attacks, with the US making them a weapon of choice in the war against terrorism.

The use of drones has grown significantly due to their ability to stay aloft longer than

manned aircrafts and the fact that they are flown remotely so there is no damage to

the flight crew. They are also cheaper than military aircrafts and do not require the

equipment necessary for a human pilot such as a cockpit and flight controls, making

them lighter in weight and smaller than a manned aircraft.

UAVs have been the center of multiple ethical issues, especially since they are being

used for targeted killings and involve a significant number of non-combatant deaths.

One report about their use in Pakistan, called Living under Drones, has estimated that

amongst the 2,5623,325 people killed by drones, up to 800 were civilian, and as few

as 2% of those killed were high level dangerous targets.

Critics have also pointed out that lethal UAV strikes are mostly occurring on

international soil, outside the initiating country. Thus the question of whether UAVs

are an encroachment upon a state’s territory and sovereignty becomes important.

Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Warfare

Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) have been used extensively for military

purposes by the US, which has employed them as part of a targeted killing campaign

against jihadist militants mainly in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen,

Somalia and Libya, to counter terrorist groups such as the al-Qaeda.

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As of December 2015, only the United States, Israel, China, Iran, Italy, India,

Pakistan, Russia and Turkey are at present known to have manufactured operational

UCAVs.

Legality of the use of UCAVs

Under international humanitarian law – the rules of war, i.e. the set of laws governing

armed conflicts – drones are not expressly prohibited, nor are they considered to be

inherently indiscriminate. In this respect, they are no different from weapons launched

from manned aircraft such as helicopters or other combat aircraft. Their use, however,

is subject to international law, even though they themselves are not unlawful or

inherently considered a threat.

It is also important to note that while there has been an increase in the use of armed

drones for military purposes, not all drones are armed and are used for civilian

purposes as well, such as for surveillance and delivering emergency aid to areas

affected by natural disasters.

Drones are not expressly mentioned in any weapons treaty or any other legal

instrument of international humanitarian law. According to the International

Committee of Red Cross, however, the use of any weapon system, including armed

drones, in armed conflict situations is clearly subject to the rules of international

humanitarian law. This implies that when using drones, there should always be a

difference between combatants and civilians and between military objectives and

civilian objects. All feasible precautions should be taken such that the civilian

population and infrastructure remain unaffected. Moreover, drones should not be used

to carry prohibited weapons such as chemical or biological agents.

It is therefore imperative that a proper legally binding framework for the regulation of

the use of drones be set out with specific guidelines for what is accepted and what is

not. Additionally, the issue of lack of transparency need to be tackled in order to

ensure that the use of UAVs do not become a source of international contention.

Cluster Munition

Cluster Munitions are conventional munitions, each of which is designed to disperse

or release multiple submunitions (also known as ‘bomblets’) over an area that may

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extend to several hundred square metres. The general definition of this explosive

weapon describes both the container (also called a dispenser or ‘parent munition’) and

the submunitions it holds.

Cluster munitions (CM) can be fired from the ground, or air-delivered. Ground based

cluster munitions include mortar bombs, artillery projectiles and rockets, while air-

delivered ordnance includes bombs, rockets and missiles. Submunitions can also be

deployed from dispensers fixed to an aircraft.

Use of Cluster Munition

Cluster munitions have killed and injured thousands of civilians in nearly 35

countries, and continue to do so today. They have been used by over 20 states during

armed conflict.

There have been incidents regarding the use of cluster bombs in countries such as

Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Angola, Sudan, Libya, Uganda, Israel,

South Sudan and Ukraine, where armed conflicts has been rampant. There has also

been widespread use of cluster munitions in Syria since the beginning of the civil war

in 2012. It has also been reported that in 2015 and 2016, the armed coalition of Saudi

Arabia used cluster bombs repeatedly in the populated areas of Yemen.

Cluster Munition Convention

The Cluster Munition Convention is an international treaty that “addresses the

humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm to civilians caused by cluster

munitions, through a categorical prohibition and a framework for action.” It was

adopted on the 30th of May 2008 and came into force on the 1st of August 2010. As of

July 2017, 108 states have signed the treaty and 102 have ratified it or acceded to it.

The Convention prohibits all use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster

munitions. In addition, it establishes a framework for cooperation and assistance to

ensure adequate care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities, clearance

of contaminated areas, risk reduction education and destruction of stockpiles.

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Article 2 of the Convention defines cluster munition as “a conventional munition that

is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20

kg, and which includes those explosive submunitions.”

Need for Convention

Cluster munitions are said to cause “unacceptable harm” mainly for two reasons.

First, they have wide area effects and are unable to distinguish between civilians and

combatants. This results in an increased likelihood of civilian victims and collateral

damage to civilian objects. Second, due to the failure rate of many submunitions, a

single attack might leave behind hundreds or even thousands of small unexploded, but

lethal devices. These are sometimes known as ‘blinds’ or ‘duds’. These may kill and

injure civilians (minimal disturbances can cause them to explode), obstruct economic

and social development, and have other severe consequences that persist for years and

decades after use.

Chemical Weapons

A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to

inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of

Chemical Weapons (OPCW), "the term chemical weapon may also be applied to any

toxic chemical or its precursor that can cause death, injury, temporary incapacitation

or sensory irritation through its chemical action. Munitions or other delivery devices

designed to deliver chemical weapons, whether filled or unfilled, are also considered

weapons themselves."

Classified as Weapons of Mass Destruction, chemical weapons can be widely

dispersed in gas, liquid and solid forms, and may easily afflict people other than the

intended targets. The toxic chemicals that have been used as chemical weapons, or

have been developed for use as chemical weapons, can be categorised as choking,

blister, blood, or nerve agents. The most well-known agents are as follows: choking

agents—chlorine and phosgene, blister agents (or vesicants)—mustard and lewisite,

blood agents—hydrogen cyanide, nerve agents—sarin, soman, VX.

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Chemical warfare (using chemical weapons) does not depend upon explosive force to

achieve an objective. It depends upon the unique properties of the chemical

agent weaponized.

A lethal agent is designed to injure, incapacitate, or kill an opposing force, or deny

unhindered use of a particular area of terrain. Defoliants are used to quickly kill

vegetation and deny its use for cover and concealment. Chemical warfare can also be

used against agriculture and livestock to promote hunger and starvation. Chemical

payloads can be delivered by remote controlled container release, aircraft, or rocket.

Use of chemical weapons

The history of modern chemical warfare can be traced back to World War I. During

World War I, phosgene and chlorine gases were released by canisters placed on the

battlefields and were dispersed by the wind. The first large-scale attack with chlorine

gas occurred 22 April 1915 at Ieper in Belgium. The use of several different types of

chemical weapons, including mustard gas (yperite), resulted in 90,000 deaths and

over one million casualties during the war. By the end of World War I, 124,000

tonnes of chemical agent had been expended.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union both maintained

enormous stockpiles of chemical weapons, amounting to tens of thousands of tonnes.

The United States also heavily adopted the use of chemical agents during the Vietnam

War (1961-71) when it sprayed over 73 million liters of defoliants on the country to

strip away the vegetation that provided cover for Vietnamese troops in “enemy

territory.” Approximately 45 million liters of the poisoned spray was Agent Orange, a

herbicide and defoliant, containing the toxic compound dioxin.

Iraq used chemical weapons in Iran during the war in the 1980s, and Iraq

subsequently used mustard gas and nerve agents against Kurdish residents of Halabja,

in Northern Iraq, in 1988, which took place around the same time that negotiation on

the Chemical Weapons Convention were taking place in Geneva.

The most recent and significant example of the use of chemical weapons has been in

Syria in April 2017, when the lethal nerve agent, sarin, was released by the military

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under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during an airstrike over the town of Khan

Shakhyun in the Idlib governorate. Nearly 74 people were killed and more than 557

injured, according to the Idlib health authority. The attack was heavily condemned by

the international community. The use of chemical weapons in Syria, however, is not

new and chlorine gas, mustard gas, tear gas, noxious gas and nerve agents such as

sarin have been used multiple times consecutively each year, starting 2012 till

recently in 2017.

The severe use of chemical weapons in Syria has, hence, led to several rounds of

discussions in the UN Security Council, condemning the attacks and outlining actions

to be taken. However, these have never resulted in the passing of a single resolution

mainly due to the use of veto power by either China or Russia or both. This includes

the most recent instance where a resolution that sought to call on the Assad regime to

cooperate with an international investigation into the attack was tabled right after the

attacks in April 2017. Both China and Russia are Syria’s strongest allies and have

hence prevented any resolution from being passed.

Chemical Weapons Convention

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an arms control treaty that “aims to

eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction by prohibiting the

development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of

chemical weapons by States Parties.” States Parties, in turn, must take the steps

necessary to enforce that prohibition in respect of persons (natural or legal) within

their jurisdiction.

Administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),

the treaty was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 1997. As of April 2016, 192

states have given their consent to be bound by the CWC.

All States Parties have agreed to chemically disarm by destroying any stockpiles of

chemical weapons they may hold and any facilities which produced them, as well as

any chemical weapons they abandoned on the territory of other States Parties in the

past. States Parties have also agreed to create a verification regime for certain toxic

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chemicals and their precursors in order to ensure that such chemicals are only used for

purposes that are not prohibited by the CWC.

A significant feature of the CWC is its incorporation of the 'challenge inspection',

whereby any State Party in doubt about another State Party's compliance can request

the Director-General to send an inspection team. Under the CWC's 'challenge

inspection' procedure, States Parties have committed themselves to the principle of

'anytime, anywhere' inspections with no right of refusal.

According to the OPCW, as of October 2016, about 93% of the world's declared

stockpile of chemical weapons has been destroyed.

QARMAs

● Is the use of drones lawful? Do they comply with the obligation to take care of

civilians?

● Should drone use be restricted?

● How can the country operating a drone strike be made legally responsible,

especially if it is initiating a strike outside its geographical territory?

● How to cope with drone strikes outside of legally declared warzones?

● How can the use of drones be made more accountable and transparent?

● Is the use of cluster munition and chemical weapons ethical?

● Is a complete ban on cluster munitions and chemical weapons justified? If not,

how else can their production, use and stockpiling be regulated?

● What can be done to prevent accidental deaths of civilians, in cases of drone,

cluster munition and chemical warfare?