Summary

Non-signatory South Korea has acknowledged humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions, but has not taken any steps to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2016. South Korea abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2020.

South Korea has not used cluster munitions, but it has produced and exported them. It possesses cluster munitions, but has not shared information on the types and quantities stockpiled.

Policy

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

South Korea has acknowledged the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions, but has not taken any steps to join the convention. At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in November 2020, South Korea reiterated that “owing to the unique security situation on the Korean peninsula we are not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”[1]

A 2008 Ministry of Defense directive on cluster munitions requires South Korea to only acquire cluster munitions equipped with “safety activation devices that will not result in more than a one per cent failure rate” and to work towards “the development of an alternative weapon system that could replace cluster munitions over the long term.”[2]

South Korea did not participate in any meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[3] United States (US) Department of State cables show that US officials met with South Korean representatives to discuss cluster munitions during the process.[4] South Korea attended the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008 as an observer, where it made a statement explaining that it could not sign the convention.

South Korea participated in the convention’s Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in 2016 as an observer. This remains its first, and to date, only participation in a meeting of the convention. South Korea was invited, but did not attend, the first part of the convention’s Second Review Conference held virtually in November 2020.

In December 2020, South Korea abstained from voting on a key UNGA resolution that urged states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[5] It has abstained from voting on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015. South Korea has explained its vote each year, always providing the “unique security situation on the Korean Peninsula” as the reason for its abstention.[6]

South Korea has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2020.[7] South Korea voted in favor of a similar Human Rights Council resolution in June 2020.[8]

South Korea also voted in favor of a 2015 UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution expressing concern at the use of cluster munitions in Sudan, as well as a 2014 UNSC resolution expressing concern at the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan.[9]

South Korea is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

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

Use

South Korea has stated on several occasions that it has never used cluster munitions.[10]

Production and export

South Korea has produced and exported cluster munitions, including rockets, bombs, and projectiles. South Korea licensed the production of cluster munitions from Pakistan and the US.

During 2020, a Ministry of Defense official wrote that no defense company in South Korea produced cluster munitions during 2020,[11] but refused to state if any cluster munition weapons had been exported by the country during the year. Previously, South Korea said that no cluster munitions were manufactured or exported during 2016.[12] In 2014, South Korea said it was producing artillery-delivered cluster munitions.[13]

The Ministry of National Defense said in 2005 that South Korea had stopped production of “old types” of cluster munitions and planned to only produce cluster munitions with self-destruct features.[14]

Two South Korean companies have produced cluster munitions:[15]

• Hanwha has produced M261 Multi-Purpose Submunition rockets for the Hydra-70 air-to-ground rocket system, as well as KCBU-58B cluster bombs.[16] In 2012, South Korea said that Hanwha produced 42,800 Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) extended-range (base bleed) 155mm artillery projectiles in 2011.[17]
• Poongsan has advertised a 155mm projectile containing 88 submunitions designated DPICM TP, and another 155mm projectile with submunitions designated DPICM K305.[18] 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.[19]

Both companies have ties to Pakistan:

• Hanwha exported an unknown quantity of M261 rockets (each containing nine M73 submunitions) to Pakistan in 2008.[20]
• Poongsan entered into a licensed production agreement with Pakistan Ordnance Factories in 2004 to co-produce K310 155mm DPICM projectiles in Pakistan.[21]

Local company, LIG Nex1, advertised a missile system designated Haeseong II—also known as Sea Dragon—for the Republic of Korea Navy, at a military trade exhibition in Busan in October 2017. The missile is reportedly equipped with a submunition warhead, but it is not clear which company produces the submunitions used in this weapons system.[22]

The US concluded a licensing agreement with South Korea in 2001 for production of DPICM submunitions for M26 rockets used with the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).[23]

South Korea has not established a moratorium policy in response to calls to formally commit to stop exporting cluster munitions.[24]

Imports

A Ministry of Defense policy directive issued in 2008 requires that South Korea only acquire cluster munitions equipped with self-deactivation devices that would not result in more than a 1% failure rate.

Under a US sale announced in June 2012, South Korea purchased 367 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons at an estimated cost of US$325 million, including associated parts, equipment, and logistical support.[25] In 2014, the US Department of Defense concluded a contract to be completed by 2016 for US company Textron Defense Systems to provide 361 cluster bomb units for foreign military sale to South Korea.[26] The CBU-105 is prohibited by the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

South Korea has imported several types of cluster munitions from the US in the past, 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.[27] South Korea also has received US-made artillery projectiles containing DPICM submunitions (M483A1, M864, and M509A1).[28] 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.[29] Jane’s Information Group lists South Korea as possessing CBU-87 and Rockeye cluster bombs.[30]

Stockpiling and destruction

South Korea has not shared information on the types and quantities of its stockpiled cluster munitions.

During 2020, a Ministry of Defense official wrote that South Korea had not destroyed any expired cluster munitions during the year of 2020.[31]

According to a US Department of State cable, a senior Ministry of National Defense official told the US in 2007 that “more than 90 percent” of South Korea’s stockpiled cluster munitions lack self-destruct features and described the cost of retrofitting them as “prohibitive.”[32]