• International Area Studies Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.269-291
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• 2014

The purpose of this article is to analyze the tendency and characteristics in armed conflict in post-Cold War era on the basis of Uppsala conflict data program(UCDP) datasets. The collapse of bipolarity and the end of cold War proved a watershed in the dynamics of international conflict. The major shift in the nature of conflict has been away from interstate conflict, leaving intrastate conflict. Major powers have acted carefully against each other and been willing to understand the interests of other to avoid military confrontation and crash. As the means of termination for armed conflict, there is a stronger emphasis on the peace settlement like peace agreement and ceasefire agreement than military victory. Many intrastate conflicts become internationalized, through the involvement of diaspora communities, or regionalized through a spillover effect into neighboring countries. Since the end of the Cold War, the UN has taken a much more active role in conflict management and conflict resolution.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.245-271
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• 2015

The downing of the MH17 reminds the world that the international civil aviation is not as safety and security as people expected. Such tragedy is partly due to the risk and danger of the armed conflict zones, but is more attributed to the ignorance to the international law by the responsible parties concerned. International laws applicable to the armed conflict zones shall be strictly followed, and the reparation shall be provided to the victims, otherwise such disaster could not be avoided in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.41-68
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• 2011

This article deals with the current rules of law of air warfare and its surrounding issues on precautionary action by a military aircraft at air-to-air operation in international armed conflict. However there is no separate and independent legal system to regulate warfare in aerospace in the current system of law of war (or law of armed conflict). In other words, law of air warfare does not exist in a form of a separate treaty. Air warfare has been regulated by international customary law and the relevant provisions in different Conventions, including 1949 four Geneva Conventions and two Additional Protocols, which mainly regulate land and naval warfare. And this makes difficult to make clear a legal term or legal tests on an issue concerned with law of air warfare, which concludes from time to time a dispute on interpretation and implementation of law of air warfare between states. Therefore, this article refers various materials (including 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, San Remo Manual, Harvard Manual, and ICAO Manual on Interception of Civilian Aircraft) for the purpose of defining the current and desirable legal test on precautionary action by military aircraft. In addition to the main purpose of this article, this article tried to show a characteristic of developing mechanism of law of air Warfare taking into account interactions between international air law and law of air warfare.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.255-263
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• 2014

Conflict minerals refer to minerals mined in conditions of armed conflict, especially as in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The common conflict minerals are cassiterite, wolframite, coltan(columbite-tantalite ore), and gold, which are mined and extracted from the Eastern Congo. These minerals are essentially used in the manufacture of a variety of devices, including consumer electronics. To end the violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in surrounding countries, it is necessary to block the supply route of conflict minerals which has been partially financed by the exploitation and trade of conflict minerals. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed into law in July 2010 and it contains requirements that U.S. companies report to the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) on the origin of conflict minerals and show due diligence of OECD. The goal of the act is to cut direct and indirect funding of armed groups engaged in conflict.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.35-40
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• 2011

The recent listing of Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage Site has awakened a longtime simmering border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over a few square kilometers surrounding the ancient Khmer Temple. While the listing of the site by UNESCO was expected to revive the economy of the impoverished border towns near the temple due to the increased tourism and funding for the preservation of the archeological site, it has had the opposite effect due to the sharp increase in violent conflict carried out by the armed forces and nationalist activists from both sides. Military skirmishes and violent protests have brought the local economy to a halt in addition to causing considerable physical damage to the local infrastructure and to the local transnational network of ethnic Kui, local business owners, Khmer and Thai villagers. This paper shows how the dispute is viewed and undertaken by three distinct communities involved in the conflict, the militaries, the metropolitan political elites and activists, and the local villagers. The three communities represent three different cultures of conflict with different interests and most importantly with differential access to the media and official representations of the dispute.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.34
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• pp.147-172
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• 2014

The Guatemalan government and guerrilla forces(the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteco, URNG) signed peace accord in 1996, and ended civil conflict(1960-1996). The bloodiest governments of the 36-year-lond armed conflict were those of Lucas Garc?a, R?os Montt and Mej?a V?ctores, between 1978 and 1983. The war that Guatemala underwent resulted in more than 200,000 casualties, more than 83% of them Mayan, according to the report of the CEH(Comision para de Esclarecimiento Historico). 'Victoria 82' and 'Opreation Sof?a' were the strategy of military dictatorship to destory indigenous Mayan communities. This paper is to demonstrates that the Guatemalan state perpetrated a genocide against the indigenous population using racism to strengthening modern nation-state and this was because, historically and structurally, it possessed, in its intrinsic naturem the repressive, ideological and legal apparatus. To distinguish Maya from ladino is often linked to cultural and social discrimination and a system of racial ranking. Militaty dictatorship used the system of racial ranking to exterminate indigenous populations.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.105-130
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• 2022

This paper argues that the war in Syria is partly the result of a global Islamist wave that contributed to fuelling conflict across large regions of Asia and Africa. Of course, the war that has consumed Syria since 2011 most certainly has multiple interrelated causes and driving forces, and any attempt to isolate one or even two or three runs the risk of advancing an overly simplistic interpretation of history. This essay, therefore, does not aim to offer an appraisal of the multiple variables that contributed to the war in Syria. Instead, it zeroes in on how political Islam came to impact Syria and its people. In doing so, it demonstrates how competing varieties of political Islam represented leading causes of conflict. Indeed, different Islamist movements contributed to the outbreak of the war in 2011, fuelled the conflict for years on end, and to this day represent major obstacles to the achievement of sustainable peace. Four broad Islamist currents are especially relevant to the case of Syria: the Muslim Brotherhood; the Shia revivalist movement at the nexus of the alliance between Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria; Salafi jihadism and its volatile and fractious underworld of competing armed groups, from Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State; and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's market-friendly Islamism, which induced Turkey to intervene in Syria's civil war.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.3-39
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• 2011

People may operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) thousands of miles from the drone's location. Drones were first used (like balloons) for surveillance. By 2001, the United States began arming drones with missiles and using them to strike targets during combat in Afghanistan. By mid-2010, over forty states and other entities possessed drones, many with the capability of launching missiles and dropping bombs. Each new development in military weapons technology invites assessment of the relevant international law. This Insight surveys the international law applicable to the recent innovation of weaponizing drones. In determining what international law rules govern drone use, the most salient feature is not the fact that drones are unmanned. The fact drones carry no human operator may be the most important new technological breakthrough, but the key feature for international law purposes is the type of weaponry drones carry. Whether law enforcement rules govern drone use depends on the situation and not necessarily who is operating the drone. Battlefield weapons may also be lawfully used before an armed conflict in the following situations: when initiating self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter; when authorized by the UN Security Council; when a government seeks to suppress internal armed conflict; and, perhaps, when a state is invited to assist a government in suppressing internal armed conflict. The rules governing resort to force in self-defense are found in Article 51 of the UN Charter and a number of decisions by international courts and tribunals. Commentators continue to debate whether drone technology represents the next revolution in military affairs. Regardless of the answer to that question, drones have not created a revolution in legal affairs. The current rules governing battlefield launch vehicles are adequate for regulating resort to drones. More research must be undertaken, however, to understand the psychological effects of deploying unmanned vehicles and the effects on drone operators of sustained, close visual contact with the aftermath of drone attacks.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.107-116
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• 2013

Occur in various parts of the world and the new aspects of the regional conflict is spreading. Nation and civilization, one based on religious ideology, hegemonic tendencies areas of conflict are factors that appear. It has the characteristic that inheritance and conflict between civilizations is spreading. Christian and Islamic books, especially the confrontation and conflict is surfaced in the international political aspects, and a threat to the security of the human race is approaching. To assert the superiority of Western Christianity emerging countries, the salvation of mankind and world peace mission with the historical non-democracy, human rights, women's rights, underdevelopment, nuclear issues, and the spirit of Christian civilization, considered to be linked and reverse, Democracy Launching and human rights issues are forcing Western development model. Islam believes in absolute monotheism that God Lord only determined by the 'slave' and having the determination to serve the religious, political, social and cultural nature ingrained, and closely adjacent to each other geographically, to focus on in quency characteristics higher than the other civilizations are appearing. To assert the doctrine of non-violent Islam 'Koran' and 'knife' became known as the violent images appear in the armed conflict between the culture method. Today the world is facing a clash of civilizations is derived from the religious conflicts and confrontation and friction between the nations appear. In particular, the deep religious roots of Christianity and Islam, the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the right to live in strife confrontation between Christianity and Islam was spread. By a factor of civilization and the spread of terrorism occurred historically proven came here from all over the earth that is being generated is true. Civilization are the symbol of the nation and the species identity.

• Journal of National Security and Military Science
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• s.13
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• pp.687-738
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• 2016

To prepare for the complicated international relationship regarding Korean Peninsula after reunification, this thesis started off with the awareness that Unified Korea should build its international posture and national security at an early stage by determining its appropriate military strength for independent defense and military strategies that Unified Korea should aim. The main theme of this thesis is 'The research on appropriate military strength of the Unified Korean military'. To derive appropriate military strength of Unified Korea, this research focuses on conflict scenario and relative balance strategy based on potential threats posed by neighboring countries, and this is the part that differentiates this research from other researches. First of all, the main objective of the research is to decide appropriate military strength for Unified Korea to secure defense sufficiency. For this, this research will decide efficient military strategy that Unified Korea should aim. Than by presuming the most possible military conflict scenario, this research will judge the most appropriate military strength for Unified Korea to overcome the dispute. Second, after deciding appropriate military strength, this research will suggest how to operate presumed military strength in each armed force. The result of this thesis is as in the following. First, Unified Korea should aim 'relative balance strategy'. 'Relative balance strategy' is a military strategy which Unified Korea can independently secure defense sufficiency by maintaining relative balance when conflicts occur between neighboring countries. This strategy deters conflicts in advance by relative balance of power in certain time and place. Even if conflict occurs inevitably, this strategy secures initiative. Second, when analyzing neighboring countries interest and strategic environment after unification, the possibility of all-out war will be low in the Korean Peninsula because no other nation wants the Korean Peninsula to be subordinated to one single country. Therefore appropriate military strength of the Unified Korean military would be enough when Unified Korea can achieve relative balance in regional war or limited war. Third, Northeast Asia is a region where economic power and military strength is concentrated. Despite increasing mutual cooperation in the region, conflicts and competition to expand each countries influence is inherent. Japan is constantly enhancing their military strength as they aim for normal statehood. China is modernizing their military strength as they aspire to become global central nation. Russia is also enhancing their military strength in order to hold on to their past glory of Soviet Union as a world power. As a result, both in quality and quantity, the gap between military strength of Unified Korea and each neighboring countries is enlarged at an alarming rate. Especially in the field of air-sea power, arms race is occurring between each nation. Therefore Unified Korea should be equipped with appropriate military strength in order to achieve relative balance with each threats posed by neighboring countries. Fourth, the most possible conflicts between Unified Korea and neighboring countries could be summarized into four, which are Dokdo territorial dispute with Japan, Leodo jurisdictional dispute with China, territorial dispute concerning northern part of the Korea Peninsula with China and disputes regarding marine resources and sea routes with Russia. Based on those conflict scenarios, appropriate military strength for Unified Korea is as in the following. When conflict occurs with Japan regarding Dokdo, Japan is expected to put JMSDF Escort Flotilla 3, one out of four of its Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Escort Fleet, which is based in Maizuru and JMSDF Maizuru District. To counterbalance this military strength, Unified Korea needs one task fleet, comprised with three task flotilla. In case of jurisdictional conflict with China concerning Leodo, China is expected to dispatch its North Sea fleet, one out of three of its naval fleet, which is in charge of the Yellow Sea. To response to this military action, Unified Korea needs one task fleet, comprised with three task flotilla. In case of territorial dispute concerning northern part of the Korean Peninsula with China, it is estimated that out of seven Military Region troops, China will dispatch two Military Region troops, including three Army Groups from Shenyang Military Region, where it faces boarder with the Korean Peninsula. To handle with this military strength, Unified Korea needs six corps size ground force strength, including three corps of ground forces, two operational reserve corps(maneuver corps), and one strategic reserve corps(maneuver corps). When conflict occurs with Russia regarding marine resources and sea routes, Russia is expected to send a warfare group of a size that includes two destroyers, which is part of the Pacific Fleet. In order to balance this strength, Unified Korea naval power requires one warfare group including two destroyers. Fifth, management direction for the Unified Korean military is as in the following. Regarding the ground force management, it would be most efficient to deploy troops in the border area with china for regional and counter-amphibious defense. For the defense except the border line with china, the most efficient form of force management would be maintaining strategic reserve corps. The naval force should achieve relative balance with neighboring countries when there is maritime dispute and build 'task fleet' which can independently handle long-range maritime mission. Of the three 'task fleet', one task fleet should be deployed at Jeju base to prepare for Dokdo territorial dispute and Leodo jurisdictional dispute. Also in case of regional conflict with china, one task fleet should be positioned at Yellow Sea and for regional conflict with Japan and Russia, one task fleet should be deployed at East Sea. Realistically, Unified Korea cannot possess an air force equal to neither Japan nor China in quantity. Therefore, although Unified Korea's air force might be inferior in quantity, they should possess the systematic level which Japan or China has. For this Unified Korea should build air base in island areas like Jeju Island or Ullenong Island to increase combat radius. Also to block off infiltration of enemy attack plane, air force needs to build and manage air bases near coastal areas. For landing operation forces, Marine Corps should be managed in the size of two divisions. For island defense force, which is in charge of Jeju Island, Ulleung Island, Dokdo Island and five northwestern boarder island defenses, it should be in the size of one brigade. Also for standing international peace keeping operation, it requires one brigade. Therefore Marine Corps should be organized into three divisions. The result of the research yields a few policy implications when building appropriate military strength for Unified Korea. First, Unified Korea requires lower number of ground troops compared to that of current ROK(Republic of Korea) force. Second, air-sea forces should be drastically reinforced. Third, appropriate military strength of the Unified Korean military should be based on current ROK military system. Forth, building appropriate military strength for Unified Korea should start from today, not after reunification. Because of this, South Korea should build a military power that can simultaneously prepare for current North Korea's provocations and future threats from neighboring countries after reunification. The core of this research is to decide appropriate military strength for Unified Korea to realize relative balance that will ensure defense sufficiency from neighboring countries threats. In other words, this research should precisely be aware of threats posed by neighboring countries and decide minimum level of military strength that could realize relative balance in conflict situation. Moreover this research will show the path for building appropriate military strength in each armed force.