US bans use of anti-personnel landmines everywhere – except the Korean peninsula

The announcement comes after years of criticism by human rights groups that the US had refused to adopt an international treaty banning the deadly devices

An official said the US has a stockpile of about 3 million landmines and will work to destroy any not required under ‘treaty obligations’ to protect South Korea

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South Korean soldiers search for landmines in Yeoncheon, north of Seoul, near the demilitarised zone that separates the two Koreas in 2010. Photo: Yonhap via AP

Published: 3:39pm, 22 Jun 2022

The United States is banning the use of anti-personnel landmines by its military in conflicts around the world with the exception of the Korean peninsula, where they form an integral part of South Korea’s defences against an attack from the north.

The announcement on Tuesday comes after years of criticism by human rights groups that the US refused to adopt an international treaty banning the deadly devices.

According to a White House statement, the US is joining the “vast majority of countries around the world” in limiting the use of the devices, which it said have a “disproportionate impact on civilians, including children, long after fighting has stopped”.

Russia is among the countries that haven’t agreed to the ban on landmines, which are causing civilian deaths in its war in Ukraine and making swathes of farmland unusable.

The US has a stockpile of about 3 million landmines and will work to destroy those not required under “treaty obligations” to protect South Korea, Stanley Brown, deputy assistant secretary of state, told reporters on a conference call.

America won’t develop, produce or acquire anti-personnel mines and won’t export or transfer them unless in connection with detection, removal or destruction, according to the new policy.