PRESS RELEASE

DATE: 23RD July 2022

Committee: Uniter Nation General Assembly

Agenda: Arms Race in Outer Space
Author: Republic Of Korea

In the following assembly UNGA has considered further proposals under the agenda
item “prevention of an arms race in outer space”, including draft treaties aimed at,
inter alia, preventing the placement of weapons in outer space and prohibiting the use
of anti-satellite weapons. In 2008, the Governments of China and the Russian
Federation introduced the draft text of such a treaty to the CD. They presented a
revised draft treaty in 2014. The General Assembly has also been engaged in the matter
of ensuring peace and security in outer space. In 2017, by resolution A/RES/72/250, the
General Assembly decided to establish a Group of Governmental Experts to consider
and make recommendations on substantial elements of an international legally binding
instrument on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, including, inter alia, on the
prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space. While the Group held some of
the most in-depth discussions on the matter in more than a decade, it was ultimately
unable to reach consensus on a substantive report. The procedural report of the Group,
which includes a report by the Chair of the Group on the work of its first session,

Solutions
 Invoke Article 9 of the Outer Space Treaty to hold consultations on US activities
that could “cause potentially harmful interference with activities in the peaceful
exploration and use of outer space.” The US could also be reminded of Article 7,
which holds spacefaring nations liable for damages they cause.
 Hold an amendment conference of the OST, possibly to broaden the list of
prohibitions from weapons of mass destruction to all weapons in space. Even if
the US prevents the adoption of such amendments, the holding of the conference
will be a significant political signal. Lessons could be learned from experience
with the 1991 Amendment Conference for the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to
make it a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
 At the very least, convoke a meeting of parties of the Outer Space Treaty to
discuss (and criticize) US plans.
 Agree on an OST interpretation that would extend the definition of weapons of
mass destruction to include the high-power weapons being developed and tested
by the United States.
  Create a protocol to the OST what would allow forward-minded nations to lead
the way in space arms control. Create more transparency and verification
measures for the treaty, so that space activities must be demonstrated to be in
accordance with the treaty
 Nations should point out that US weapons programmes are contrary to the
spirit, if not the letter of the OST, which provides that the “use of outer space …
shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries.”
 Nations could call for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of
Justice on specific US activities in space in relation to the OST obligations
(similar to the advisory opinion on nuclear weapons).
Registry Convention:
 Demand more specific (and accurate) information from contributors to the UN
registry of space launches. This would include more details of the objects sent
into space so that precise purposes and descriptions of hardware are clear (e.g.,
and useful for spotting weapons delivery).
 More ambitiously, set up a monitoring and/or verification system to check the
information governments supply to the UN.
Developing a new treaty:
 Continue to advocate multilateral negotiations to develop a space treaty by
creating an Ad Hoc Committee on Outer Space at the Conference on
Disarmament. If not in the CD, then create it by the General Assembly or
another forum.
Ballistic Missile Defence:
 Some researchers had advocated compromise on the BMD issue, accepting that
the US could deploy some measures of ground-based systems but not space-
based ones.
 Develop a multilateral agreement to prohibit interference with peaceful assets in
orbit, a treaty that might be appealing to many in the US, whose reliance on
space is the greatest.
Dealing with space debris:
 Create a space debris management regime that would prohibit weapons testing
in space that would increase debris. Space debris is a recognized threat to
satellites and space travel that all nations, especially the US, should seek to avoid.
 Request that more information on debris tracking (e.g., gained by NORAD) be
made available publicly.
General/miscellaneous:
 Highlight the weaponization of space as a threat to use of force, in contravention
n of the UN Charter. Given the proximity of such weapons system to earth this
could be considered a grave and perhaps imminent threat.
  Stigmatize the practice of placing weapons in space as an offence against
humanity’s sense of its shared commons.
Bilateral schemes with US:
 In parallel with the multilateral (UN/CD) approach, there could be another
track, involving regulatory agreements in the form of executive agreements
between national authorities (space agencies) to avoid lengthy treaty negotiations
and ratification. Especially nations cooperating with the US on peaceful projects
could request such agreements so that peaceful uses would be completely
separate from weapons programs (much as Canada requests that fuel processed
in Canada not be used for nuclear weapons in the US).
 Continually point out the unrealism (scare-mongering) of a “Space Pearl
Harbour”
 Relentlessly argue that US plans to develop space weapons are self-defeating, as
the US is the nation most dependent on peace in space.
 Praise and support the US for its continuation of a moratorium on anti-satellite
weapons