US bans landmines except on border with North Korea

THE United States will only use antipersonnel landmines on the border between North and South Korea, as it vows to prohibit the use of the deadly weapons elsewhere.

In a reversal of a Trump-era policy, the US will destroy much of its stockpile of three million landmines if they are not needed to protect South Korea. The ban also extends to the stockpiling, production and transfer of the weapons.

Although the US does not currently have any minefields deployed there, Washington has pledged support for Seoul’s defence, which includes antipersonnel mines. The move leaves the US short of the Ottawa Convention – the 1997 treaty intended to eliminate antipersonnel landmines – but the White House said “unique circumstances on the Korean Peninsula” meant they had to keep their policy active in the region.

“Even as the United States takes this further step, the unique circumstances on the Korean Peninsula and the US commitment to the defence of the Republic of Korea preclude the United States from changing anti-personnel landmine policy on the Korean Peninsula at this time,” the White House said in a statement. It added that yesterday’s announcement reflects President Joe Biden’s belief that the landmines “have a disproportionate impact on civilians, including children, long after fighting has stopped”.

It comes as Russia deploys such mines during its invasion of Ukraine.

“The world has once again witnessed the devastating impact that anti-personnel landmines can have in the context of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war in Ukraine, where Russian forces’ use of these and other munitions have caused extensive harm to civilians and civilian objects,” National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.