HANKYOREH

APLN member Cheong Wook-sik argued that the longstanding pursuit of North Korea’s denuclearisation has become increasingly unrealistic and suggested that a strategy centred on peaceful coexistence, arms control, and nuclear risk reduction may provide a more viable way forward.

With recent events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US-Israel attacks on Iran, the perception of vulnerability without war deterrence is spreading globally. As self-reliance emerges as a key theme of the times, South Korea stands at the forefront. While “modernizing” its alliance with Washington, Seoul is massively investing to maintain independence in national defense. Thus, the demand for denuclearization inevitably sounds to the DPRK like an order to abandon war deterrence.

As uncomfortable as this is and something I don’t want to admit, the pursuit of denuclearization has run its course, and an alternative must be found.

The core of the alternative lies in seeking peaceful coexistence with a “nuclear-armed” DPRK rather than dealing with a “non-nuclear” one. Ideas for solutions proposed at home and abroad include arms control talks to freeze and reduce nuclear weapons, rather than fixating on denuclearization. Trump has also proposed a starting point for an ultimate solution, the idea that global powers like the US, Russia and China should take the lead in nuclear disarmament and invite the North to join them. For that reason, I believe the time has come to bring the DPRK’s nuclear issue into the larger discussion of the goal of a world without nuclear war or weapons.

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Image: Wikimedia Commons.