Korea, Republic of

Mine Ban Policy

Last updated: 03 November 2011

Mine ban policy overview

Mine Ban Treaty status

Not a State Party

Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record

Abstained on Resolution 65/48 in December 2010, as in previous years

Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings

None

Policy

The Republic of Korea (ROK)—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 8 December 2010, South Korea abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 65/48 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has in previous years. South Korea has previously stated for several years that the security situation on the Korean Peninsula prohibits it from acceding to the treaty.[1] In June 2011 a Foreign Ministry official told the Monitor that South Korea’s policy in relation to the Mine Ban Treaty remains unchanged.[2]

South Korea has participated only minimally in the diplomatic work related to the Mine Ban Treaty and did not send an observer delegation to any meetings in 2010 or in the first half of 2011.

In September 2010, a draft law to allow commercial mine clearance companies to operate within the country was introduced into Parliament.[3]

South Korea is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. On 28 April 2011, South Korea submitted its annual CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report.[4]

Use, production, and transfer

While South Korea maintains existing minefields, it has regularly informed the Monitor that it has not engaged in any new use of antipersonnel mines in many years.[5]

In 2011, South Korea reported that it did not produce, export, purchase, or use antipersonnel mines during the year.[6] In 2007, a private South Korean company, Hanwha Corporation, produced about 10,000 self-destructing antipersonnel mines, as well as an unknown number of Claymore directional fragmentation mines.[7]

South Korea said in October 2009 that it “is exercising tight control over anti-personnel landmines and enforcing a moratorium on their export for an indefinite extension of time.”[8] It has previous said that it has “faithfully enforced an indefinite extension of the moratorium on the export of AP [antipersonnel] mines since 1997.”[9] In June 2011, a Foreign Ministry official stated that the government has 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.[10]

Stockpiling

In 2011, a government official told the Monitor that the size of South Korea’s stockpile and the types of mines stockpiled are classified.[11] South Korea said in 2006 and 2008 that its stockpile consisted of 407,800 antipersonnel mines.[12] Previously, the government stated that it held a stockpile of about 2 million antipersonnel mines.[13]

In the past year, South Korea reported that 18,464 antipersonnel mines (5,132 M14; 12,086 M16; and 1,246 M18) were destroyed in the Ammunition Units where they were stored. The precise date of the destruction(s) and reason for this action was not specified.[14]

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.[15]

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.[16] It now appears those mines are being removed from South Korea and destroyed. 

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.[17] 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.”[18] However, in June 2011, a Foreign Ministry official stated that South Korea safeguards an antipersonnel mines stockpile 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.[19]

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.”[20] Moreover, US policy is to stop the use of non-self-destructing antipersonnel mines in South Korea in 2010. The US has previously destroyed all non-self-destructing mines not dedicated to potential use in Korea.

North Korean-made copies of Soviet PMD-6 mines were found in 2011 on the shores of South Korean islands and along watersheds downstream from the DMZ in South Korea. The mines have been moved by water due to heavy rainfall and landslides, causing casualties among civilians in South Korea.[21]

 



[1] See ICBL, “Country Profile: South Korea: Mine Ban Policy,” 18 October 2010, www.the-monitor.org.

[2] Email from Chi-won Jung, Second Secretary, Disarmament and Nonproliferation Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 27 June 2011.

[3] “Despite promises, land mine dangers still persist,” Korean JoongAng Daily, 30 September 2010, joongangdaily.joins.com. See also CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 Report (for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 December 2010), 28 April 2011.

[4] Article 13 Report, 28 April 2011. The report only contains mine clearance information.

[5] Response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of South Korea to the UN in New York, 9 June 2009.

[6] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Kap-Soo Rim, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of South Korea to the UN, 1 June 2011.

[7] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 876. South Korea began producing remotely-delivered, self-destructing antipersonnel mines in 2006. South Korea has produced two types of Claymore mines, designated KM18A1 and K440. South Korean officials have stated that the country only produces the devices in command-detonated mode, which are lawful under the Mine Ban Treaty, and not with tripwires, which would be prohibited.

[8] South Korea, “Explanation of Vote on Resolution L.53,” 64th Session, UNGA First Committee, 29 October 2009.

[9] Response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of South Korea to the UN, 16 June 2008.

[10] Email from Chi-won Jung, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 27 June 2011.

[11] Ibid.

[13] In May 2005, South Korea stated that “there are about twice as many landmines in stockpile as those that are buried,” and the government estimated one million buried mines. Response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of South Korea to the UN in New York, 25 May 2005. The Monitor reported that the stockpile includes 960,000 M14 mines that were made detectable before July 1999 in order to comply with CCW Amended Protocol II, and that South Korea also holds unknown numbers of self-destructing mines, including, apparently, more than 31,000 US ADAM artillery-delivered mines. See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 544.

[14] Email from Chi-won Jung, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 27 June 2011.

[15] Response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of South Korea to the UN, 25 May 2005.

[17] Public Law 109–159, “An Act to authorize the transfer of items in the War Reserve Stockpile for Allies, Korea,” 30 December 2005, p.119, Stat. 2955–2956.

[18] Response to Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of South Korea to the UN, 9 June 2009.

[19] Email from Chi-won Jung, MOFAT, 27 June 2011.

[20] Public Law 109–159, “An Act to authorize the transfer of items in the War Reserve Stockpile for Allies, Korea,” 30 December 2005, Section 1(c)(2).

[21] “1 killed, 1 injured in explosion near border town between S Korea, DPRK,” Xinhua, 1 August 2010, news.xinhuanet.com; and “3 mines found swept away from North,” Korea JoongAng Daily, 29 June 2011, joongangdaily.joins.com.