Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository

Article Title

Taking IHI, R2P and Legitimate Defense Seriously: North Korea as the Primary Consideration

Authors

Morse Tan, Visiting Scholar, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

Keywords

International humanitarian intervention, IHI, Responsibility to protect, R2P, Humanitarian law

Abstract

North Korea has the worst human rights crisis in terms of the breadth and extent of its violations, and also presents the most serious security crisis in the world. A trio of doctrines— International Humanitarian Intervention, the Responsibility to Protect, and legitimate defense— provide the foundation for a range of solutions and approaches to resolve this crisis. At the same time, North Korea poses real dangers, the situation is delicate, and the resolutions may prove difficult. Strong determination is necessary to stay the course until the Koreas reunite, ideally in a peaceful manner. The situation has moved rapidly over the past year, and seems to be headed towards a climax of one kind or another. Hope remains on the Korean peninsula that the gross and systematic human rights violations in North Korea will finally be put to rest, and that the North Korean people will be able to live in a just peace, no longer a menace to the region and the world.

Recommended Citation

Tan, Morse (2018) "Taking IHI, R2P and Legitimate Defense Seriously: North Korea as the Primary Consideration," Cornell International Law Journal: Vol. 51: No. 1, Article 1.
Available at: https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cilj/vol51/iss1/1