The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says they are willing to resume talks with the South if it ends its "hostile policies". Kim Yo-jong was responding to a renewed call from the South to officially declare an end to the Korean War. The conflict, which split the peninsula into two, ended in with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
The two countries have technically been at war ever since, and locked in a sometimes tense relationship. This week, South Korean president Moon Jae-in called for the two Koreas and their allies - the US which backs the South, and China which is the North's biggest economic partner - to declare a formal end to the conflict and bring peace to the peninsula.
The idea was initially dismissed by a top North Korean minister as "premature". But in an unexpected statement released on Friday through state media, Ms Kim said the idea was "admirable". However she added that the North would only be willing to discuss the proposal if the South stopped what she called "hostile policies" towards them.
I remember on the day that Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in first met, I said that when it comes to inter-Korean relations, hope can be a difficult thing to manage. The problem is that Chinese troops would almost certainly be sent into North Korea at the same time, and with the same goal, as the US forces. Are we going to shoot at each other or shake hands? But Beijing would be intervening to protect its own interests, not those of the US.
In this, and this alone, a war with North Korea would bear some similarities to the war in Iraq. All of which is to say that China, like Iran, would be trying to stabilize postwar Korea on its own terms, not those of the US. Most, like Jung Pak, a former North Korea analyst for the CIA, believe that Kim is a rational leader who has been careful during his years in power to walk right up to the edge without going over it.
He knows how to dial things up, but he also knows how to recalibrate and dial them back down. Pak and others note there have been some recent, fragile signs of diplomatic progress. North and South Korea just announced plans for their athletes to train together in advance of the Winter Olympics and enter the opening ceremonies as one team, under the flag of a reunified Korea. The North and South Korean governments are holding ongoing talks, and South Korea and the US agreed to postpone new military exercises until after the Olympics, a move widely seen as a goodwill gesture to North Korea.
King continued :. Joseph Dunford, who was testifying at the session, if the US and North Korea had any direct lines of communication that could be used to defuse a tense situation before it spirals out of control.
Maybe next week Kim will test-fire a missile that flies too close to Guam or Hawaii and Trump will decide enough is enough. With no lines of communication, a simple mistake could set off a cascading series of responses that ultimately lead to all-out war.
In a situation this combustible, there are an enormous number of moves — some intentional, some accidental — that could light the match.
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Explainers Why are rich countries still monopolizing Covid vaccines? Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for The Weeds Get our essential policy newsletter delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. For more newsletters, check out our newsletters page. On September 15, , during the Korean War , U. Marines force made a surprise amphibious landing at the strategic port of Inchon, on the west coast of Korea, about miles south of the 38th parallel and 25 miles from Seoul.
The location had been criticized as too The Korean War was the first military action of the Cold War. The line they crossed, the 38th parallel, was created in to separate the For Robert Whited and Jean White, there was never a question that they would serve in the military. And they never doubted the merit of the war they were sent to fight in Korea.
It was this unbending faith in their service as U. The Vietnam War started in the s, according to most historians, though the conflict in Southeast Asia had its roots in the French colonial period of the s.
North Korea is a country with a population of some 25 million people, located on the northern half of the Korean Peninsula between the East Sea Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. North vs.
South Korea. Recommended for you. At the same time, by taking the lead on climate change and fostering universal values, South Korea can play a limited but unique role in the Asian power balance. Despite the convergence of interests between Moon and Trump insofar as negotiating with Kim Jong Un was concerned, the U. Unlike Biden, Trump disdained alliances and thought that most U.
There was little room for potential bilateral or even multilateral cooperation on key global issues. Since the signing of the U. The Moon administration had a delicate balance to strike during this period. On one hand, Moon had to successfully manage Trump to keep him engaged in top-down diplomacy with North Korea, as discussed earlier in this study.
This was an unheard of request in the history of the alliance. The rapid resolution of such a high-profile and contentious issue that plagued the alliance throughout the Trump administration immediately indicated a new trajectory for the alliance. One of the key lessons of the Trump years is the significant politicization of the alliance depending on who sits in the Oval Office. There has always been those who have called for a more independent defense posture, including support for the reintroduction of U.
But the vast majority of South Koreans support its crucial military alliance with the United States as the optimal security arrangement together with increasingly robust national defense capabilities. Nevertheless, South Koreans today are much more aware of the volatility in U.
When former president Jimmy Carter entered office in , he initially promised to keep his campaign pledge to gradually withdraw U. Carter eventually reversed his decision. Members of the Biden administration wasted no time in starting the restoration process and connecting with their South Korean counterparts—Moon was one of earliest heads of state to talk with Biden after his election, and South Korea was an early stop for high-level U.
Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. But the level of coordination was even more palpable in the U. First, the sheer number of topics the allies were aligned on was impressive—the statement covered a broad range of issues, from bilateral to global see table 2. Over the course of his presidency, Moon has opted not to take any explicit stances against China or that are perceived to be against China.
Given this background, pre-summit reporting pointed to potentially contentious negotiations over any language concerning China. In addition to resolving lingering issues from the Trump years, the summit included a major deliverable for South Korea in the full termination of the U. The limits have changed many times over the years—including twice under the Trump administration—but the announcement that they would be fully terminated was a surprise outcome of the summit.
Terminating the guidelines has long been popular with both the left and right in South Korea—the left because of the importance it places on autonomy in national defense, and the right because of the importance it places on developing strong capabilities to deter the North Korean threat. Although the summit was successful, the United States and South Korea have challenging adjustments to reset their alliance for an increasingly complex and dangerous security environment.
Previous great power competition between the United States and the Soviet Union operated largely through strategic spheres of influence. Importantly, the Soviet Union never posed an economic threat or challenge to the United States. The U. Most U. Ensuring that South Korea and other key U. From such a perspective, the fact that South Korea is an increasingly competitive global player in technology, advanced manufacturing, energy, and health security augurs well for an expanding U.
As a case in point, out of a total of 2, words in the joint statement, North Korea just took up words. Ironically, in a summit that eschewed a cost-focused approach to alliance management, South Korea committed to a sizable amount of funding for joint initiatives—a South Korea gained critical international credibility for its successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and Seoul hopes it can translate such branding to enhanced influence on key transnational issues including global health and climate change.
Putting into practice the many initiatives and pledges contained in the May U. It requires immense follow-up, political capital, and constant tweaking by senior officials. The Mutual Defense Treaty remains at the core of the alliance, but the ROK is no longer an impoverished country critically dependent on the United States for its security and defense.
It would have been unthinkable in the s, the s, and even the s to imagine South Korea as an advanced economy, a robust democracy, and an important contributor to the global commons.
As such, renewed emphasis on regional and global priorities in the alliance raises questions about USFK and its potential roles in contingencies beyond the Korean Peninsula. This is particularly important for the Combined Forces Command CFC , the binational military command led by the United States under which South Korean forces would operate in the event of an armed attack on the Korean Peninsula.
This has limited the ability to include USFK, and thus the most robust alliance institutions, in regional frameworks and strategy. Today, the Republic of Korea-U. Alliance is, and should remain, squarely focused on the immediate threat from North Korea. The Alliance constantly updates its posture and plans as the security environment evolves. Given the global role of the U. Even after LaCamera assumes command of the CFC, rapid shifts in the role and mission of USFK are unlikely although the possibility of new directives are increasingly possible throughout the s.
While deterring North Korean aggression remains the priority in the alliance, over the past few years the U. Under the Biden administration, as the relationship between the two countries improves and U.
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