• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.219-246
• /
• 2017

Nuclear issue is a good example showing globalization of the international regime. The history showed nuclear weapons may cause the extinction of human races when the first nuclear bombs fell down to Japan in August, 1945 and people became increasingly eager to achieve peace. Military buildup for national security is a matter of existence in the international society. However, disarmament or arms control to secure international peace and safety which is also the purpose of the Charter of the United Nations may be the most important task for us to realize peace of the mankind. Today, disarmament, together with amicable settlement of international conflicts and collective security system, is an important means to maintain and promote international peace and safety. It might be our permanent task to realize complete disarmament but, as the Preamble of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) expressed general and complete disarmament, the international society has clarified its effort for complete disarmament. Thus, taking a look into the international regime on the nuclear issue and progress related to the nuclear issue in North Korea, the study was intended to introduce the globalization of the nuclear issue, review the international effort for nuclear disarmament based on the concept of the 'common heritage of the mankind' and with respect to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and controls over nuclear weapons, and then evaluate the North Korean nuclear issue, which is in direct relation with South Korea and international laws, in terms of the space law and disarmament acts. The collective security system along with policies to prevent dissemination of nuclear weapons should also be emphasized and implemented to cope with the North Korean nuclear issue.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.163-186
• /
• 2009

The missile technology and its development in south Korea have been restrained to the limit of 180 km by America which instead provided to Korea with security protection. In the same vein, America pressured South Korea to abort its nuclear weapons program so as to prevent another possible military encounter that can easily develop into a war between South and North Korea. This restraint was a bit relaxed when South Korea joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2001 whereby the limit was 300 km. The situation of South Korea is in much contrast with its neighbor, North Korea, which has fired Taepo Dong 1 and Taepo Dong 2 to put its alleged satellite respectively into the Earth orbit. The range of this rocket believed to be reaching more than 5,500 km, a range of the intercontinental ballistic missile, without any rein. South Korea that has just geared its full powers for its outer space industry, with the current space projects of putting its satellites into the low Earth orbit, will in future put its satellite into the geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above the Earth. To do so, such restraint had better be resolved. Korean space industry, as it is alike in other countries, started with putting and manufacturing sounding rockets, producing satellites but relying on foreign launching facilities, and learning launching capacities. Experiencing three time launchings of KITSAT, the current satellite projects of Korea are undertaken as follows: - Koreasat - STSAT - Komsat - MBSAT - COMS (Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite) Koreans waked up to the things of outer space in 2008 with the first Korean astronaut Li So-yeon, a lady bio systems engineer. Although the first Korean made rocket in cooperation with a Russian company to fire last August 2009 was a failure, it should be considered as an inevitable process for future endeavors. There are currently three outer space related laws of Korea: Aerospace Industry Development Promotion Act 1987, Outer Space Development Promotions Act 2005, and Space Damage Compensation Act 2008. The first two stemming from the two different ministries are, however, overlapping in many aspects and have some shortcomings to be improved.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.261-284
• /
• 2018

The current international legal system does not provide a safeguard against the militarization and the weaponization of outer space. Although the term "peaceful use of outer space" in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty(OST) appears in official government statements or in multilateral space treaties, it is still without an authoritative definition in reviewing national practices. The ambiguous ban on weapons in Article IV of the OST allows countries to loophole on the deployment of other weapons other than nuclear weapons. Meanwhile "Draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapon in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects(PPWT)" to Conference on Disarmament (CD) commissioned by the UN General Assembly's Special Session jointly submitted by China and Russia in 2008 and later revised in 2014, attempting to define and prohibit the proliferation of weapons in outer space and provided definitions of prohibited weapons, are opposed by the US on the grounds that currently there is no arms race in outer space. Some experts support a hard law approach in which binding laws aimed at ultimately creating integrated and binding legal instruments in all aspects of the use of outer space should be adopted to regulate the military use of space. However as a temporary measure the soft law guidelines should be developed for the non liquiet, a situation where there is no applicable law. The soft law could be used to create support for the declaration of the treaties and to create international customary law. For example, the 1963 Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space that regulates the activities of the state in the exploration and use of the universe, and the 1992 Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space will illustrated. While substantial portions of the former was codified later in the 1967 OST, the latter which, although written in somewhat mandatory terms, have been consistently complied with by states, have arguably become part of customary international law. On November 12, 1974, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the development of international law may be reflected inter alia, by declarations and resolutions of the General Assembly which may to that extent be taken into consideration by the International Court of Justice.