(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, announced Monday that the court will not investigate two incidents in the Yellow Sea, namely the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, on 26 March 2010, and the shelling of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island on 23 November 2010.
Bensouda said in a statement that "at this stage, the Rome Statute requirements to seek authorization to initiate an investigation have not been satisfied." "After a most careful assessment, regarding the Cheonan, the conclusion is that the alleged attack was directed at a lawful military target and would not otherwise meet the definition of the war crime Statute," she noted.
"Regarding the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, the conclusion is that even though the shelling resulted, regrettably, in civilian casualties, the information available on this incident does not provide a reasonable basis to believe that the attack was intentionally directed against civilian objects," she stated.
South Korea has been a State Party to the ICC Rome Statute since 13 November 2002.
With today's decision, the ICC Prosecutor is now conducting preliminary examinations in ten situations: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Honduras, Iraq, Georgia, Guinea, Nigeria and Ukraine.
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