International Criminal Court: North Korea Under Investigation

AMSTERDAM — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Monday he has opened an preliminary investigation into possible war crimes by North Korea resulting from its recent clashes with South Korea.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that after receiving complaints, his office is looking at the Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the sinking of South Korean warship the Cheonan in March to see whether they constitute war crimes.

The shelling killed two South Korean marines and two civilians. Forty-six people died in the sinking of the Cheonan, which was "hit by a torpedo allegedly fired from a North Korean submarine," ICC prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement.

South Korea in 2002 signed the international treaty that established the war crimes court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands. The prosecutor said in a statement Monday that the treaty gives the court jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on South Korean territory.

North Korea does not recognize the court's authority.

Under the ICC's rules, the prosecutor plays a leading role in deciding which of the many complaints it receives are strong enough to merit formal charges and prosecution. Prosecutors investigate cases themselves. Judges must approve each step along the way.

The court is investigating other possible war crimes, including a preliminary investigation in Afghanistan and formal investigations in Sudan and Kenya, among others.

It has jurisdiction in cases involving member states, and also is sometimes empowered to investigate cases by the U.N. Security Council – as it was in a case concerning Sudan's Darfur region, where the court has issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on suspicion of genocide. He denies wrongdoing.

Comments

[Ramkshrestha]

06:27 AM on 12/07/2010

Creates another International tension.

[Anne Mccormick]

02:40 AM on 12/07/2010

this will definitely make China very unhappy

[rissole]

12:54 AM on 12/07/2010

Will this be before the Bush/Cheney investigation or after?

[KarlaElisa]

11:40 PM on 12/06/2010

Wow...before us? Oh...that's right. They don't buy their way out of everything.

[jc budmo]

10:30 PM on 12/06/2010

Any judgments against the North Korean, Sudanese or Serbian regimes are meaningless until the most persistent criminal regime is brought to trial - Israel.

[Sans Octavian]

01:33 AM on 12/07/2010

Israel doesn't starve its own people under a cult of personality. Israel doesn't conduct mass ethnic cleasing. Israel is constantly playing a defensive game. Whether crimes have war have happened at the hands of the Israeli military is possible, but to say they are in the same company as your aforementioned nations merely shows a common bias found in most liberals.

[jc budmo]

06:35 AM on 12/07/2010

The only thing you've got right is the cult of personality, but that hardly matters. Oh and yes Israel doesn't starve its own people, it starves the Palestinian people, I guess you never heard or you choose to ignore an inconvenient truth: “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” Israeli government adviser Dov Weisglass. http://www.medialens.org/alerts/10/101117_put_the_palestinians.php Zionists are too smart to just let them die see, they just want to make their lives unbearable so they'll leave. Israeli doesn't conduct mass ethnic cleansing? Israel is BUILT on ethnic cleansing, and the process is ongoing - if not, why don't they get back behind the 67 borders. Regarding the Israeli Arab population - ever heard of 'transfer'? Look it up. "whether crimes...have happened..is possible" Is possible???? Israel is playing a defensive game??? Do some research then if you still believe what you do, fair enough, but call a spade a spade, Israel is an outlaw, terrorist 'state', that has broken more UN resolutions than any other entity. I my friend, am no liberal and I do not advocate a 'liberal' solution to the Israeli problem.

[freddychef]

07:30 PM on 12/06/2010

it does not matter if NK doesn't recognize this court.
all the countries that surround NK do.

[KarlaElisa]

11:41 PM on 12/06/2010

Meaningless unless the standard is applied universally. The US walks, I fail to see how others can be held accountable.

[LMPE]

07:10 PM on 12/06/2010

Do we really want to anger the Kim dynasty even more?

[Whinger]

06:06 PM on 12/06/2010

Double standards!

[BillKen]

04:41 PM on 12/06/2010

The USA has never, ever recognized or accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC. The primary reason
being, the US would have to arrest some of our most prominent citizens for war crimes and that would be more 'justice' than old Uncle Sam could stand. Remember the golden rule, Do as I say
not as I do. Semper Fi

[CanuckistanCommie]

04:03 PM on 12/06/2010

Hope they include
Dick Jong Cheney
George il Bush to the indictments.

[foxisms]

03:52 PM on 12/06/2010

But not the US for Iraq.
Gotta love a level playing field.
It gives such credibility to an international court.

[The Cause Endures]

03:17 PM on 12/06/2010

People on this thread arguing that the ICC should go after Bush have obviously not paid attention.

Bush retracted our recognition of the authority of the ICC years ago. They have no authority to investigate Bush. If you want to prevent war crimes done in the name of American citizens, push Obama to investigate.

[foxisms]

03:55 PM on 12/06/2010

What's with the "retracted"business?
We're either part of the international community or we're not.
Can't go around conquering countries in the name of being the international savior and purveyor of freedom and democracy one minute and then just bail on the other good stuff.
No wonder the world has us pegged for schizos.

[The Cause Endures]

04:10 PM on 12/06/2010

This shows such a fundamental misunderstanding of how the international legal community works I don't even know where to start.

[BillKen]

04:40 PM on 12/06/2010

The USA has never, ever recognized or accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC. The primary reason
being, the US would have to arrest some of our most prominent citizens for war crimes and that would be more 'justice' than old Uncle Sam could stand. Remember the golden rule, Do as I say
not as I do. Semper Fi

[eddie10]

03:06 PM on 12/06/2010

The ICC is just a joke :-).

When it goes after Israel's criminial rogue regime, or the bush cabal's iraq illegal, it will have a credibility, otherwise it shows that the ICC is just a western corporate tool that goes only after the third world nations.

[logicanada]

02:18 PM on 12/06/2010

great, and then what ? Include them in the Axis of Evil ??

[neo-moderate]

03:33 PM on 12/06/2010

From Wikipedia:

Bush labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the axis of evil.

So what now?

[PedroLeon]

04:01 PM on 12/06/2010

Again?

[Peacefrogg]

01:23 PM on 12/06/2010

The International Crime Court is going to charge North Korea with War Crimes and the Nigerian Government wants Cheney. HMMMM. I wander which will happen first.