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U.S. Will Keep Older Cluster Munitions, a Weapon Banned by 102 Nations</h1>
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<span class="byline" itemprop="author creator" itemscopeitemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 0.75rem; font-weight: 700; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; margin-right: 12px;">By <span class="byline-author" data-byline-name="JOHN ISMAY" itemprop="name" style="white-space: nowrap;">JOHN
ISMAY</span></span><time class="dateline" datetime="2017-12-01T19:08:43-05:00" itemprop="dateModified" content="2017-12-01T19:08:43-05:00" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 0.75rem; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; margin-left: 0px;">DEC.
1, 2017</time></p>
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of the South Korean Air Force prepared to load cluster bombs onto a fighter during an exercise in August at an air base in Suwon, South Korea.</span> <span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 1rem; display: inline-block; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span class="visually-hidden" style="position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;">Credit</span>Kim
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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will allow the United States military to once again arm itself with older cluster munitions, a type of weapon that has been banned by 102 countries largely because of concerns that they disproportionately harm civilians.</p>
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The change, detailed in a memo released on Friday, reverses a prohibition issued under President George W. Bush, and appears to be a concession by the United States that finding safer variants of the weapons has so far failed.</p>
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Most American cluster munitions held abroad appear to be positioned for a possible war with North Korea. Under a 2008 agreement, the Pentagon maintains a stockpile of more than 1.5 million cluster munitions, containing over 90 million bomblets, in South Korea.</p>
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Cluster munitions include a wide variety of rockets, bombs, missiles and artillery projectiles that scatter smaller weapons, called submunitions, over a target area. Some dispensers can release as many as several hundred bomblets.</p>
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Though the United States is not a signatory to the international treaty banning the weapons, it pledged in June 2008 to sharply restrict their use and reduce risks to civilians.</p>
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