The Two Korea's Have Set A Model For American Diplomacy

The Two Korea's Have Set A Model For American Diplomacy

By Michael Haas
Antiwar.com
February 26, 2019

A Road Map for peace between the two Korea's now exists.

An agreement signed by both countries on September 19, 2018,
provides a model that President Donald Trump and North Korean
Leader Kim Jong Un may follow at Hanoi.

The agreement, in turn, is similar to the Road Map that normalized
relations between the United States and Vietnam.

The Korean Road Map provides detailed goals to implement
the Panmunjom Agreement of April 2018:

(1) secession of all hostile acts, (2) transformation of the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into a Peace Zone, (3) neutralizing the
maritime boundary into a peace zone, (4) increased contacts,
exchanges, and visits, (5) and a revitalized institutional framework
for consultation between the two military forces.

A step-by-step process of mutual cooperation within the DMZ,
which separates North from South Korea, was then established:

(1) withdrawal of all guard posts, (2) withdrawal of all firearms,
(3) joint recovery of soldiers missing in action, (4) minesweeping,
(5) a joint road.

By the end of October, most steps were completed.

Some 5,700 persons crossed the joint road during 2018.

A train passed from South Korea to the northern border
of North Korea to determine where repairs are needed.

The United Nations Command (UNC), the 17-nation military force
that defended South Korea during the Korean War, has been
transformed as a result.

In October 2018, the UNC, headed by American General Vincent
Brooks, met with representatives from the armies and North and
South Korea.

UNC is already neutral arbitrator between the two Korea's as
they take steps in the DMZ.

Whatever happens in Hanoi must build on existing confidence
building measures between the two Korea's.

Those critical of having the United States sign a peace declaration
should remember that Washington never signed the 1953 Armistice.

Neither did Pyongyang or Seoul.

But two Korea's did so in April 2018, and the only holdout has
been the United States.

Afterward, a joint working group can be assigned to design an
elaborate peace treaty.

The ultimate beneficiaries of continued de-escalation toward peace
are the people of North Korea.

Fearing American first-strike capability and occasional threats,
Pyongyang has over prepared by treating the country as a potential
war zone, considering even subtle dissent as disloyalty.

When North Korea is less concerned about American aggression,
unpleasant human rights conditions can improve for the people.

https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2019/02/25/the-two-koreas-have-
set-a-model-for-american-diplomacy