JEAIL > Volume 6(2); 2013 > Notes & Comments
Research Paper
Published online: November 30, 2013
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2013.6.2.06

Jus ad Bellum and Cyber Warfare in Northeast Asia

Boris Kondoch
Far Eastern University
Eumseong-gun, Chungcheonbuk-do, Republic of Korea.
Corresponding Author: kondoch@hotmail.com

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Cyber attacks have become a grave threat to international peace and security. Northeast Asia is a critical point of many of these cyber operations. First, South Korea has been the target of cyber attacks from North Korea. Second, there are harsh debates on this matter between the US and China. While the United States have expressed their concerns about the growing threat of cyber intrusions from China, the People's Republic of China has blamed the US for attacks against their respective computer networks. From the perspective of the jus ad bellum, potential cyber attacks raise a number of difficult and complex issues. The following article examines which cyber operations amount to the use of force as stipulated in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and discusses the conditions under which type of cyber attacks could trigger the right to self-defense. In addition, other available remedies outside the framework of Article 51 of the UN Charter will be discussed.

Keywords : Cyber Attacks, Jus ad Bellum, Right to Self-defense, Armed Attack, Accumulation of Events, Pre-emptive Self-defense, Security Council, International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, Counter-measures

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