It was quite demoralizing, to say the least. Last Friday’s edition of the South China Morning Post, the leading newspaper in Hong Kong, ran a big cartoon deriding so-called “scientific whaling,” and it was obvious which country it was referring to.

Korea’s about-face on whaling has become headline news in many parts of the world and invited renewed debate on the issue. The dreaded prospect of students of Hong Kong University asking me questions about it during my class on international law has already been making me sweat. Many countries interpret Korea’s declaration of the resumption of “scientific whaling” at the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting in Panama City last week as a virtual denunciation of the country’s 26-year-old moratorium on whaling.

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling of 1946 imposes international obligations for the protection of endangered whale species. This convention ultimately evolved to impose a global moratorium on whaling in 1986. As a party to the convention, Korea has also implemented its obligation.

Article VIII of the ICRW, however, includes an exception which permits killing and taking whales for scientific research purposes. This exception is for the collection of marine biological data for whales so as to enhance conservation of the species.

What Korea basically declared in Panama City was that it would start this whaling for scientific purposes. While having a burning desire for science is generally praised by peer countries in other sectors, this particular type of scientific activity has been widely criticized for a long time.

The widely-held perception in the international community has been that scientific whaling is a pretext for commercial whaling using Article VIII of the ICRW as a loophole. Critics assert that scientific whaling is turning the convention upside down, asking why someone would need such a lethal method of scientific activity to collect biological data. They point out that after producing negligible scientific value the whales killed in the course of “scientific research” are then sold for meat.

The IWC reports that Iceland and Japan are the only two countries currently engaged in “scientific whaling.” Korea’s addition will then expand the list to three.

Korea’s unfathomable decision to join this conspicuous list explains the almost universal criticism of its decision of last week. Australia and New Zealand, who have been spearheading international efforts to enforce the ICRW, immediately issued very harsh criticism, deploring Seoul’s sudden joining of this “kill-for-science” scheme. Concern was also expressed by Washington.

The wisdom of joining this two-country list would be further questioned if one realizes that this very issue has become a controversial legal question among countries concerned at various international courts for the past couple of years. So, it is hard to fathom why Korea has suddenly volunteered to step into this known minefield.

This turnaround is also puzzling because it contradicts what the country has done and said recently in this particular area. Although still one of the major fishing powers, Seoul has made strenuous efforts at FAO and WTO conferences to help reduce the depletion of fish stocks. Having heard the declaration from Panama City, one would question the good faith of all these statements and papers.

Backpedaling of this sort easily erases all the hard-earned plus points for the image of a country. Judging from the deep stigma associated with the term “scientific whaling,” and the almost universal outcry against the declaration of Korea to initiate this whaling practice, a dent seems to have been made in the effort to enhance the “national brand image” through all these summit meetings and projects for the past several years.

Unless compelling reasons are given, it seems difficult to refute a widespread perception that this plan for lethal research activities is more about the meat than about scientific data. It is quite disappointing that Korea has suddenly volunteered to carry the torch of this dubious cause.

By Lee Jae-min

Lee Jae-min is a professor of law at the School of Law, Hanyang University, in Seoul. Formerly he practiced law as an associate attorney with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. ― Ed.