ICC Office of the Prosecutor Concludes No Basis for Further Investigations into Republic of Korea (June 23, 2014) [1]
On June 23, 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court published [3] its Report following the conclusion of the preliminary examination into the situation in the Republic of Korea. According to the press release [4], the Prosecutor “determined that, at this stage, the Rome Statute [5] requirements to seek authorization to initiate an investigation have not been satisfied.” The OTP concluded, in relation to the sinking of a South Korean warship in March 2010, that “the alleged attack was directed at a lawful military target,” and, in relation to the shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010, that “the information available on this incident does not provide a reasonable basis to believe that the attack was intentionally directed against civilian objects or that the civilian impact was expected to be clearly excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage.”