Disturbing developments on the Korean Peninsula

The US has taken steps to curb the nuclear desire of the ROK and Japan, though the international community as a whole is yet to react. The US measures mainly include providing its allies with an effective umbrella against nuclear attacks. On March 18, The New York Times published an editorial, "No Nukes on the Korean Peninsula", which said that if the US let the ROK reprocess spent nuclear fuel under a new nuclear cooperation agreement, it will make it easier for Seoul to develop nuclear weapons, but such actions will not make the ROK safer.

The editorial argued against the ROK developing nuclear weapons. US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon reinforced the point, saying Washington will "draw upon the full range of our capabilities to protect against, and respond to, the threat posed to us and to our allies by the DPRK".

The US has been conducting a series of military drills to show how determined it is to protect its allies. For the latest US-ROK joint military exercise, the US broke a rule by making public the participation of its nuclear submarine and B-52 bombers to remind Pyongyang that Washington will not be a passive onlooker if its allies come under nuclear threat. On March 24, the ROK and US defense forces signed the Combined Counter-Provocation Plan that details how they should cooperate to deal with the DPRK's provocations. This can be regarded as an important security commitment made by the US to the ROK.

By signing the plan, the US has made two strategic purposes clear. On one hand, the US has demonstrated that instead of compromising in the face of the DPRK's threat, it is determined to provide security cover to its allies. On the other, Washington showed Seoul and Tokyo that it can provide a reliable umbrella against nuclear attacks and thus curbed their desire to develop nuclear arms.

The US efforts may have had a positive effect on Japan and the ROK. But they have triggered concern among China, Russia and some of their neighboring countries, for the strengthening of the alliance between the US and Japan or the US and the ROK could change the geopolitics of the region.

That an increasing number of people in the ROK and Japan are demanding that the two countries develop their own nuclear weapons shows that the DPRK nuclear issue is not a matter just between the US and the DPRK; it is a major challenge for the entire world. Of course, the best way to solve the problem is to persuade the DPRK to abandon its nuclear program. But since Pyongyang is not expected to heed to such a request, the international community should take every measure possible to resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

The author is a professor of Korean Studies at Yanbian University in Jilin province.

(China Daily 03/29/2013 page9)