North Korean Space Program Legitimization Efforts: Review and Policy Recommendations

ABSTRACT

With much attention being concentrated on containing North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs, the North Korean space program also faces objections from the international community. This article claims that identifying North Korea’s space program developments with its ballistic missile program is unjustified and even undermines the space program’s potential for hastening a successful Korean unification. The goal of the article is to suggest a departure from a current hostile attitude toward the North Korean space program and to make alternative policy recommendations. The first part of the article focuses on a literature review of sources devoted to the North Korean space program, emphasizing the existence of alternative views of it other than the common view of it being a threat to international security. The second part describes efforts made by North Korea on the international and domestic scenes to confirm its space program’s legitimacy and make it more transparent, amidst continuing condemnations and sanctions by the United Nations, concluding with the positive dynamics of North Korean space efforts. The final part is dedicated to possible alternatives to current international policy towards the North Korean space program, underscoring a potentially mutually beneficial cooperation between North Korea and Southeast Asian prospective spacefaring nations. It is claimed that such cooperation might raise the technological level of the North Korean economy and narrow the gap between the two Korean states, offering more possibilities for eventual unification.

Notes

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^3. F. P. Gladeck et al., Operation Hardtack I 1958 (Santa Barbara, CA: Kaman Tempo, 1982), 266.

^4. Daniel A. Pinkston, “North and South Korean Space Development: Prospects for Cooperation and Conflict,” Astropolitics 4, no. 2 (2006): 207–27.

^5. Daniel A. Pinkston, The North Korean Ballistic Missile Program (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2008), v.

^6. James Clay Moltz, Asia’s Space Race: National Motivations, Regional Rivalries, and International Risks (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2012), 6–7.

^7. Ibid., 184–88.

^8. Kelly Kuan Shang, “Trespass to Airspace: How to Deter North Korea from its Space Ambitions?” Journal of East Asia and International Law 6, no. 1 (2013): 221–40.

^9. Ibid., 222.

^10. Ibid., 229–31.

^11. Pinkston (note 4): 208.

^12. Ibid., 218.

^13. Ibid., 219.

^14. Ibid., 220.

^15. Ibid., 221.

^16. Michael Elleman, “Prelude to an ICBM? Putting North Korea’s Unha-3 Launch into Context,” Arms Control Today 43, no. 2 (2013): 8.

^17. Ibid.

^18. Ibid.

^19. Shang (note 8): 223.

^20. International Civil Aviation Organization, Assembly Resolutions in Force (as of 4 October 2013) (2014), I-43.

^21. International Maritime Organization, MSC/Circ. 893, https://docs.imo.org/Shared/Download.aspx?did=11116 (accessed December 2016).

^22. Shang (note 8): 223.

^23. United Nations Security Council, S/RES/1695, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/431/64/PDF/N0643164.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016).

^24. Shang (note 8): 223, 226; United Nations Security Council, S/PRST/2009/7, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N09/301/03/PDF/N0930103.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016); and David Wright, “An Analysis of North Korea’s Unha-2 Launch Vehicle,” Union of Concerned Scientists, 20 March 2009, http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/nwgs/Wright-Analysis-of-NK-launcher-3-18-09.pdf (accessed November 2016).

^25. United Nations Security Council, S/RES/1874, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N09/368/49/PDF/N0936849.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016).

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^28. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, “Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space,” UNOOSA, 2016, http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/osoindex/search-ng.jspx?lf_id=#?c=%7B%22filters%22:%5B%7B%22fieldName%22:%22en%23object.unRegistration.unRegistered_s1%22,%22value%22:%22Yes%22%7D,%7B%22fieldName%22:%22en%23object.launch.stateOrganization_s%22,%22value%22:%22De (accessed November 2016).

^29. Kim Chol Min, “North Korea has legitimate right to satellite launches,” NK News, 6 April 2016, https://www.nknews.org/2016/04/north-korea-has-legitimate-right-to-satellite-launches/ (accessed November 2016).

^30. United Nations General Assembly, A/RES/2777 (XXVI), http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/2777(XXVI) (accessed December 2016).

^31. Jeremy Laurence, “North Korea Completes Second Missile Site,” Reuters, 17 February 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-korea-north-missile-idUSTRE71G0CX20110217 (accessed November 2016); and United Nations Security Council, S/2012/422, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N12/376/10/PDF/N1237610.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016).

^32. Shang (note 8): 231.

^33. United Nations Secretariat, ST/SG/SER.E/662, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/V13/803/53/PDF/V1380353.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016); United Nations Secretariat, ST/SG/SER.E/768, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/176/83/PDF/N1617683.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016); and David Wright, Laura Grego, and Lisbeth Gronlund, The Physics of Space Security: A Reference Manual (Cambridge, MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005), 35–36.

^34. International Maritime Organization, SN.1/Circ.307, https://docs.imo.org/Shared/Download.aspx?did=71599 (accessed December 2016); International Maritime Organization, SN.1/Circ.320, https://docs.imo.org/Shared/Download.aspx?did=75603 (accessed December 2016); and International Maritime Organization, SN.1/Circ.332, https://docs.imo.org/Shared/Download.aspx?did=95715 (accessed December 2016).

^35. United Nations General Assembly, A/70/PV.67, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/70/PV.67 (accessed October 2016), 6–7.

^36. Ibid.

^37. United Nations, “General Assembly—Quick Links,” Dag Hammarskjöld Library, 20 October 2016, http://research.un.org/en/docs/ga/quick/regular/71 (accessed December 2016).

^38. United Nations General Assembly, A/36/PV.91, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/NL8/607/81/PDF/NL860781.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016), 1623.

^39. United Nations (note 37).

^40. Laurence and United Nations Security Council (note 31).

^41. Park Ju-min and Louis Charbonneau, “North Korean Rocket Puts Object into Space, Angers Neighbors, U.S,” Reuters, 8 February 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-satellite-idUSKCN0VG00H (accessed December 2016).

^42. Jeffrey Lewis, “Is North Korea Gearing Up for Another Space Launch?” 38 North, 2 June 2015, http://38north.org/2015/06/jlewis060215/ (accessed December 2016).

^43. Ibid.

^44. Kim (note 29).

^45. Ibid.

^46. Ibid.

^47. Ibid.

^48. Ibid.; and United Nations General Assembly, A/RES/2222(XXI), http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/2222(XXI) (accessed December 2016).

^49. Elleman (note 16).

^50. United Nations Security Council, S/RES/2270 (2016), https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/058/22/PDF/N1605822.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016), 2.

^51. United Nations Security Council, S/2016/157, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/010/96/PDF/N1601096.pdf?OpenElement (accessed December 2016), 19–21.

^52. Moltz (note 6): 180–84, 191–95.

^53. Lewis (note 42).