| <KAZAKHSTAN | REPUBLIC OF KOREA> |
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has not acceded to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The government has not made a policy statement on landmines since 1998.[1] It has not attended any of the major international meetings on the landmine issue. The DPRK has been absent from every vote on the pro-ban UN General Assembly resolutions since 1997, including in November 2001. North Korea is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
No new information on the DPRK’s production, trade, stockpiling, or use of antipersonnel mines is available.[2] North Korea has said, “We use landmines in the area along the military demarcation line (MDL), solely for defensive purposes.”[3] It seems that North Korea has also planted some mines along the East Coast area between the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the port city of Wonsan.[4]
There is no official information about any past mine clearance, mine risk education, or survivor assistance programs in the North. The DPRK has not contributed to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Mine Clearance.
Due to a general deterioration in relations between North Korea and South Korea, and between North Korea and the United States, North Korea has maintained a freeze on the agreed inter-Korean transportation project near Panmunjom. This project is to include mine clearance in and near the DMZ to permit construction of a highway and railroad line.[5]
According to press accounts, North Korea agreed to open a new overland cross-border route on the East Coast.[6] This would require the removal of landmines in and near the DMZ. The proposed highway in the East Coast would be 13.7 kilometers long and 50 meters wide. It would link the unification observatory at Songhyun-ri in South Korea and the village of Onjeong-ri at the base of Mount Keumgang in North Korea.[7] In addition, it seems that North Korea is also willing to reconnect the Donghae rail line on the east coast. An agreement in principle between the two governments of Korea on these matters was reached in April 2002, but there has been no further progress.[8]
It is likely that landmine incidents continue in certain battle sites of the Korean War. Occasional injuries--to both soldiers and civilians--due to mines in or near the DMZ are also likely, just as it is happening in the South.
The ICRC, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health and the DPR Red Cross Society, has launched an amputee rehabilitation program in a newly renovated prosthetic center in Songrim, 30 kilometers south of the capital Pyongyang. The center will provide rehabilitation services and produce up to 1,000 prostheses a year. Due to the economic situation and severe cutbacks in medical and social services, an estimated 11,000 people are in need of physical rehabilitation in North Korea.[9]
Note to readers: A request from Landmine Monitor for information for this report was submitted through the DPRK Mission to the UN in New York in December 2001, but there has been no response. Similar requests in 1999 and 2000 also went unanswered.
| <KAZAKHSTAN | REPUBLIC OF KOREA> |
[1] In 1998, the government said it fully supported the “humanitarian purposes and the nature” of the Mine Ban Treaty, but could not accede “for security reasons” under the present circumstances on the Korean peninsula. Statement of Counselor Kim Sam Jong, Permanent Mission of DPRK to the UN, New York, 4 December 1998.
[2] See past Landmine Monitor Reports for the few known details. DPRK apparently still produces the Model 15 fragmentation stake mine and the APP M-57 blast mine.
[3] Statement of Counselor Kim Sam Jong, Permanent Mission of DPRK to the UN, 4 December 1998.
[4] The Landmine Monitor researcher has seen a photograph of the apparent North Korean minefield, taken in 1996. See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 541.
[5] For more details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 541.
[6] Kwang-jong Yoo, “North Said Ready at Opening Border for Festival-Goers,” Joongang Ilbo (South Korean daily newspaper), 22 January 2002. North Korea has also proposed to open at the same time an overland travel route to Pyongyang through the truce village of Panmunjom, but this will not require any removal of landmines.
[7] “North Allows Land Route to Mount Kumgang,” Digital Chosun (Seoul), 10 June 2001; Paul Eckert, “S. Korea Ponders North Tour Offer as World Cup Nears,” Reuters (Seoul), 22 January 2002.
[8] See joint press release of 6 April 2002, following the visit to Pyongyang by South Korean Special Envoy Lim Dong-Won; also Korea update, newsletter of the ROK embassy in the US, May 2002.
[9] “ICRC prepares to launch programme for amputees,” ICRC News 02/29, 18 July 2002, accessed at www.icrc.org.
