‘Cluster munitions pose an immediate threat to civilians during conflict by randomly scattering submunitions or bomblets over a wide area.’
The international watchdog group Cluster Munition Coalition told the United Nations in a report Thursday that North Korea is continuing to make and stockpile cluster munitions, Yonhap news agency reported, citing Radio Free Asia.
As noted by Human Rights Watch, a founding member of the nongovernmental Cluster Munition Coalition, “Cluster munitions pose an immediate threat to civilians during conflict by randomly scattering submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. They continue to pose a threat post-conflict by leaving remnants, including submunitions that fail to explode upon impact becoming de facto landmines.”
“A single cluster bomb can contain dozens, even hundreds, of baseball-size bomblets that spray in all directions, ripping apart anything in their path. All too often, they fail to detonate right away and thus become time bombs that imperil unwary civilians who pick them up, including curious children,” The New York Times explained.
In 2016, cluster munitions caused 971 known casualties.
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According to CMC’s report, North Korea obtained many of the cluster munitions after the breakup of the Soviet Union, but has continued to manufacture and stockpile them to this day.
