• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.259-294
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• 2013

After its experiment involving the exploding of a satellite in space in 2007, China proudly aired news on TV and ran articles in newspapers. However, the event was internationally criticized and drew widespread attention. Many countries denounced the explosion by pointing out that it could be part of the nation's plan to expand its military power to space or that it could pose a danger to the peaceful use of space. However, there is no talk of whether the experiment that produced a huge amount of space debris could have violated an international law, namely the Outer Space Treaty. Although space garbage has been said to be a serious problem, the amount is still on the increase. If we continue to launch new space launch vehicles into orbit at this rate, we will not be able to use it anytime soon like we do today. As the commercial use of space is likely to increase, the situation will certainly get worse. The international community is fully aware of the seriousness of the problem and working together to reduce the amount of space garbage. However, despite the fact that the United States and Soviet Union's ASAT(Anti-Satellite) programs have been implemented for a long time, there have been no complaints about them in terms of military expansion or breach of the Outer Space Treaty. Also, the recent Chinese test is largely viewed to be in accordance with international law. A lot of research has been undertaken with regard to the problem of space garbage. Now people's awareness of dangers being posed has been fully raised. Under the circumstances, the dismissing of China's satellite smashing, leaving a big mess in its wake, as nothing more than an experiment, is a red flag to, if not many, at least some people. By means of this thesis, I would like to review whether the Chinese test has violated an international space law. This thesis presents an overview of the issues surrounding the event and examines the possibility of violating the Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principle Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. After the China test, the UN Scientific and Technical Subcommittee first adopted space debris mitigation guidelines, I'll introduce the content of the guidelines and discuss the characteristics of the guidelines and what can be done to address the issue.