| bibo:abstract |
Major Issues in and Implications of Recent Discussions on
Formulating International Norms on Space Security
January 20, 2016
YOO Joonkoo
Visiting Professor
1. Introduction
odern warfare has taken
on the form of a space
war in which the
participants make active
use of GPS systems in
artificial satellites. The scale of the
satellite broadcasting market has also
expanded to more than USD 100
billion annually. As can be seen from
this trend, major space powers are now
approaching space with security, policy,
and economic perspectives. The United
States, Russia, China, and other
countries are engaged in a growing
competition over space warfare
capabilities; in the case of the United
States, the Obama administration has
already allotted the budget for
enhancing defense and attack
capabilities of the U.S. space military
program for the next five years, which
amounts to USD 5 billion.
In addition, over the past fifty
years in which space race has entered
the stage of diversification, formulating
international norms on space security
has become one of the most urgent
issues on the UN’s agenda. Unlike the
case in cyber security, discussion on
norms in space security has been
mainly led by the UN and other
multilateral institutions, which have
approached this issue with a more
comprehensive perspective. The
discussion has taken on a two-track
approach, which comprises a top-down
process of establishing international
treaties, and a bottom-up process of
formulating international norms.
Moreover, in the current situation, the
conflict between the United States and
the West versus China and Russia is still
ongoing in the UN and other
multilateral institutions. Militarization
and weaponization of space areas and
commercial development of dual-use
technologies for both civilian and
military usage are proceeding rapidly as
well.
Regarding the issue of formulating
international norms in the outer space,
a number of international treaties and
resolutions have been adopted through
a UN agency called the Committee on
the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
(COPUOS). Thus, discussions in this
area have advanced more quickly than
that in the field of cybersecurity,
leading the United States, China, and
Russia to alter their positions to a
certain degree. The United States and
European Union are seeking for a code
of conduct that is not legally binding,
as can be seen from the Draft
International Code of Conduct for
Outer Space Activities (ICoC) that they
submitted in 2012. On the contrary,
China and Russia jointly submitted the
Treaty on the Prevention of the
Placement of Weapons in Outer Space
M
PIFANS BRIEF 2015-32 2
and of the Threat or Use of Force
against Outer Space Objects (PPWT),
which demonstrated their support for
an international space law that is legally
binding. The two sides have conflicting
interests in a variety of issues, including
the format of legal documents, level of
acceptance regarding militarization and
weaponization of outer space,
application of the right of self-defense,
space debris mitigation, and
establishment of transparency and trust.
Therefore, despite frequent and
concentrated discussions on this topic,
the participants are considered to have
arrived at a stalemate.
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