Summary: Non-signatory South Korea acknowledges the convention’s humanitarian rationale, but states it cannot consider accession at this time due to the situation with North Korea. Since 2015, South Korea has for the first time provided its views on accession to the convention and participated in a meeting of the convention. It however abstained from voting on a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2016.

South Korea has not used cluster munitions, but it has produced and exported them. South Korea states that it did not manufacture or export cluster munitions in 2016. South Korea possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions but has not provided any information on the number and types stockpiled.

Policy

The Republic of Korea (South Korea) has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In an October 2016 statement to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), South Korea said it “fully shares the concerns of the international community over the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions and supports its efforts to address the humanitarian problems arising from their use.”[1] South Korea however stated it cannot join the convention “due to the unique security situation on the Korean Peninsula” and committed “to mitigate humanitarian problems associated with use of cluster munitions in a constructive manner.”

South Korea said it adheres to a 2008 Ministry of Defense policy directive, which stipulates that “only cluster munitions that are equipped with self-deactivation devices and that would not result in more than a 1 per cent failure rate can be included in the Government’s acquisition plans.” It said the directive “recommends the development of alternative weapon systems that could replace cluster munitions in the long term.”

South Korea provided similar remarks in November 2015.[2] It made the statements to explain its decision to abstain from the vote in December 2015 and December 2016 on UNGA resolutions that call on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3]

Prior to 2015, South Korea rarely commented on its position on the convention.[4] In 2009, South Korea stated that “the unique security situation on the Korean peninsula” means that it was “unable to take an active stance” on the convention.[5]

The South Korean Ministry of Defense directive on cluster munitions was issued a month after the United States (US) Department of Defense adopted its own directive that requires it not produce, transfer, or use cluster munitions after 2018 that leave more than 1% unexploded ordnance.[6] The timeframe for South Korea’s implementation of its policy directive is not known.

South Korea did not participate in any meetings of the Oslo Process that resulted in the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7] However, it attended the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008 as an observer and made a statement.

It also attended as an observer the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in 2016, but did not make a statement.

South Korea has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[8] It has also voted for Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in March 2017.[9] As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), South Korea voted in favor of a June 2015 UNSC resolution that also expressed concern at evidence of cluster munition use in Darfur, Sudan. It also voted in favor of a May 2014 UNSC resolution that expressed concern at the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan.[10]

South Korea is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

South Korea is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). It supported efforts to conclude a new CCW protocol on cluster munitions, which failed in 2011, effectively ending CCW deliberations on cluster munitions and leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole multilateral instrument to specifically address the weapons. South Korea has not proposed any more CCW work on cluster munitions since 2011.

Use

South Korea has stated on several occasions that it has never used cluster munitions.[11]

Production and export

South Korea has produced and exported rockets, bombs, and projectiles containing submunitions. It has licensed the production of artillery projectiles containing submunitions in Pakistan. South Korea licensed the production of cluster munitions from the US.

However, in May 2017, in response to a request for updated information from a local NGO, South Korea stated that no cluster munitions were manufactured or exported during 2016.[12]

Previously, in 2015, South Korea said it could not release information on its cluster munition exports and said it “has not established moratorium policy” in response to calls to formally commit to stop exporting cluster munitions.[13] 

Previously, in 2014, South Korea said it produces artillery-delivered cluster munitions.[14] In 2005, the Ministry of National Defense said that “South Korea stopped production of old types of cluster munitions,” and the “cluster munitions currently in production have a high level of reliability and most are equipped with [self-destruct] mechanisms.”[15]

Two South Korean companies have produced cluster munitions:[16]

• Hanwha has produced M261 Multi-Purpose Submunition rockets for the Hydra-70 air-to-ground rocket system, as well as KCBU-58B cluster bombs.[17] In 2012, South Korea informed the Monitor that Hanwha produced 42,800 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) extended-range (base bleed) 155mm artillery projectiles in 2011.[18]
• Poongsan has advertised a 155mm projectile containing 88 submunitions designated DPICM TP, and another 155mm projectile with submunitions designated DPICM K305.[19] In 2009, Poongsan listed two types of 155mm artillery projectiles that contain submunitions: K308 DPICM TP, containing 88 K224 submunitions, and K310 DPICM B/B, containing 49 K221 submunitions.[20]

Poongsan entered into a licensed production agreement with Pakistan Ordnance Factories in 2004 to co-produce K310 155mm extended-range (base bleed) DPICM projectiles in Pakistan.[21] In 2008, Hanwha apparently exported an unknown quantity of M261 Multi-Purpose Submunition rockets (each containing nine M73 submunitions) to Pakistan.[22]

The US concluded a licensing agreement with South Korea in 2001 for production of DPICM submunitions for multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) rockets.[23]

A 2017 report by PAX lists 27 South Korean financial entities involved in investments in cluster munition producers.[24]

Imports

South Korea has imported various types of cluster munitions from the US, including M26 rockets, M26A1 extended-range rockets, and ATACMS missiles for its MLRS launchers. Between 1993 and 1999, the US provided 393 M26A1 extended-range rocket pods, 271 M26 rocket pods, 111 ATACMS (Block-1) missiles, and 111 ATACMS (Block 1A) missiles.[25] South Korea also stockpiles several artillery projectiles with DPICM submunitions (M483A1, M864, and M509A1) imported from the US.[26] In 2001, the US supplied South Korea with 16 of each of the following cluster bombs: CBU-87, CBU-97, CBU-103, and CBU-105.[27] Jane’s Information Group lists South Korea as possessing CBU-87 and Rockeye cluster bombs.[28]

In June 2012, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of a sale of 367 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to South Korea at an estimated cost of US$325 million including associated parts, equipment, and logistical support.[29] The Convention on Cluster Munitions bans these weapons, while US law permits export of CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons as this variant is supposed to result in less than 1% unexploded ordnance (UXO). In May 2014, the US Defense Department confirmed a contract to be completed by December 2016 for US company Textron Defense Systems to construct 361 cluster bomb units for foreign military sale to South Korea.[30]

The 2008 Ministry of Defense policy directive requires that South Korea only acquire cluster munitions that are equipped with self-deactivation devices and that would not result in more than a 1% failure rate. According to a US diplomatic cable dated May 2007, a senior Ministry of National Defense official told the US that “more than 90 percent” of South Korea’s stockpile of cluster munitions were of the non-self-destructing kind and “the cost of retrofitting them would be prohibitive.”[31]

Stockpiling and destruction

South Korea has not provided information on its stockpile of cluster munitions, which is thought to be of a significant size.

According to the May 2017 response to World Without War, South Korea did not destroy any aging or obsolete cluster munitions during 2016.[32] In 2015, South Korea informed the Monitor that no aging cluster munitions were destroyed during 2013 or 2014.[33] In 2012, South Korea informed the Monitor that it destroyed 27 obsolete cluster munitions in 2011.[34]