Today's News

Kwon Hyo Song, The Pyongyang Times staff reporter, interviewed Pak Kyong Su, deputy director of the National Aerospace Technology Administration as regards the fact that it has been a decade since the DPRK signed the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (rescue agreement) and the convention on international responsibility for damage by space objects (responsibility convention).

The deputy director said:

The rescue agreement and responsibility convention are part of the separate treaties in which the contents of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty) were supplemented and concretized and such international treaties constitute the most important components of the international space law.

The rescue agreement, which took effect from December 3 1968, is an international legal document which concretized Article 5 of the Outer Space Treaty and its main content is about the duty of rescuing and repatriating astronauts who meet with disasters and of withdrawing and returning objects launched into outer space. The responsibility convention, which took effect from September 1 1972, is an international legal document which concretized Articles 6 and 7 of the Outer Space Treaty and it stipulates the principle, procedure and method of compensation for damage caused by activities in outer space.

Our country signed the rescue agreement and responsibility convention after ratifying the Outer Space Treaty and the Registration Convention, thus becoming a signatory to all treaties except the Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (moon convention) among five treaties related to outer space. It stipulated its relevant duties in its law on aerospace development and has made sincere efforts to thoroughly fulfil the requirements of the international space law in the development and use of outer space, including issuing prior warnings related to the launch of satellites in accordance with the international regulations for the safety of vessels and aircraft.

It is a very important matter to thoroughly fulfil the requirements of the international space law that stipulates state activities in the development and use of outer space, the common asset of mankind which is beyond national sovereignty and cannot be controlled by the domestic law of any individual country.

The National Aerospace Technology Administration of the DPRK will continue to make an active contribution to promoting the wellbeing of humanity by thoroughly fulfilling the relevant duty while proudly exercising the legal rights of a sovereign state in the development and use of outer space, the common asset of humanity and the stage of development.