research guide: disec - munsophicalmunsophical.org/images/studyguide/disecguide.pdf1 research guide:...
Post on 29-Apr-2018
221 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
1
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.
2
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
3
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.
4
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
5
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.
6
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
7
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.
8
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
9
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.
10
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.
11
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
12
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
13
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?
top related