NAPSNet 16 February 2012

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet 16 February 2012", NAPSNet Weekly Report, February 16, 2012, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-weekly/napsnet-16-february-2012/

DETERRENCE: The UN Security Council Resolution 1540: An overview of extraterritorial controls over non-state WMD proliferation, Jennifer Gibson, Sarah Shirazyan, NAPSNet Special Report (14 February 2012)

Fifty-one of 179 countries reporting to the UNSC apply their laws extraterritorially. For 36 states examined in-depth, almost half extend jurisdiction extraterritorially under either the effects principle or (less often) under the universal jurisdiction principle.

DPRK: North Korean leader Kim backs natural-gas pipeline, Russia says, Henry Meyer, Bloomberg (3 February 2011)

North Korea reaffirmed commitment to a pipeline project that would transport natural gas from Russia to the ROK via the DPRK. Russia’s Ambassador to the DPRK noted that Gasprom is working with the DPRK to develop the plans. The announcement was the first confirmation that the agreement will continue after the death of Kim Jong-il. The pipeline would facilitate trade between the ROK and Russia and support the development of the DPRK energy sector.

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Climate change in UK security policy: Implications for development assistance?, Katie Harris, Working Paper 342, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), UK (January 2012) [PDF, 213 KB]

The strongest links between climate change and security are present in the most recent UK security reports and among representatives of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defence (MOD), but this framing has not as yet translated into tangible mechanisms to take this agenda forward – although the ‘desired impact’ of the security framing is somewhat difficult to pin down.

ENERGY SECURITY: Cleaner kilowatts: Policy and technology for Asia’s coal consumption: An interview with Mark Thurber, Jacqueline Koch, National Bureau of Asian Research (10 February 2012) [PDF, 237 KB]

Pacific Energy Summit advisor and Stanford professor Thurber describes growth in Asian coal use and the difficult climate challenges it poses. He suggests developing countries focus first on “reducing local pollution and toxic releases from coal plants—while keeping an eye on possible synergies with carbon emissions reduction.” Incorporating environmental externalities in energy pricing is an efficient policy approach, but difficult to implement.

GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: Local governments want to give aid to North Korea, Lee Won-jean, Joongang Ilbo (6 February 2012)

ROK civil society is pursuing greater cooperation with the DPRK and a group of ROK cities have allotted budgets for aid and inter-city social and cultural events and cooperation. Last week, a civic group delegation met with DPRK counterparts despite ROK government opposition; separately, over 200 ROK civil society representatives met and called on the government to pursue a different strategy in inter-Korean relations.

Note: We regret that the Austral Security section is not included in this week’s NAPSNet report and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Editor

Contributors