Stability needed on Korean Peninsula

ROK’s new government should adopt the right policies and not blindly follow Washington

The situation on the Korean Peninsula could deteriorate because the new Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol’s policy toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is similar to that of US President Joe Biden — both believe in putting maximum pressure on the DPRK, instead of using dialogue or engagement, to resolve the peninsula nuclear issue.

What could make matters worse is that the DPRK has test-fired 16 missiles recently.

The ROK should think twice before participating in the US’ multilateral strategic mechanisms, such as the Quad security dialogue between the US, India, Japan and Australia, and the “Five Eyes” cooperation mechanism of the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which China sees as tools of major power competition.

Although the Russia-Ukraine conflict has brought the MoscowWashington tug of war to the fore, the US still sees China as its biggest strategic rival. After the conflict began, some Chinese scholars argued that it would help shift Washington’s focus from China. But the Biden administration’s foreign policy indicates that the US’ strategic pressure on China has not eased.

This unfortunately suggests that the US will be reluctant to cooperate with China to resolve the Korean Peninsula issue. This could intensify the tensions on the peninsula, prompting the DPRK to conduct more nuclear tests this year.

The tragedy is that some major powers are not showing the political will to resolve the issue through cooperation, and instead intend to use it as a bargaining chip to fulfill their respective interests.

China has been working to help stabilize the situation on the Korean Peninsula, especially to deepen its friendly relations with its neighbors.

If tensions in the North and in Northeast Asia intensify, it will give the US more excuses to consolidate its presence in the region by deploying more strategic weapons in the

ROK, which is the last thing China wants to see.

Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan attended Yoon’s inauguration ceremony recently, becoming the highest-ranking Chinese official to not only attend the swearing in of an ROK president, but also to visit a foreign country since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. This should leave no doubt that Beijing wants to strengthen relations with Seoul.

China has always treated the ROK as a very important partner in terms of not only economic cooperation but also on regional and global issues.

The related parties all want the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but they should take actions rather than just pay lip service to the issue. If the peninsula is not effectively denuclearized, it could trigger an arms race in Northeast Asia.

So the US should abandon its strategic competition with China and cooperate on issues of common interests.

The ROK should strike the right balance between its relations with the US and China, instead of blindly following the US’ policies.