In resolving the Korean Peninsula issue, South Korea needs to take a leadership role and own the issue outright. The country’s leadership plays second fiddle to the US. Surprisingly, it does not seem to understand the concerns related to North Korea.

South Korea is far stronger than North Korea militarily and should therefore not fear the North. South Korea should terminate for a year the annual military exercise with the US in return for the North’s cessation of missile and nuclear tests. After all it is only a year, and if the North does not reciprocate, the South can always resume the military exercise.

Longer term measures require a bold step forward. South Korea should request the US to remove its forces from Korea over a 10-year period, with the corresponding action by North Korea being that it dismantles its nuclear program. Both must be quantifiable and measurable. In return both South Korea and the US should undertake not to overthrow the North Korean regime, externally or by internal subterfuge. Agreement must be in writing under the UN and there should be multinational supervision or inspection.

After 10 years, given greatly reduced tension, both South and North may well work toward unification over the longer term.

If the North were to be so foolish to attack the South, they would be dealt a heavy blow by the South’s superior armed forces. The US, which has military bases in Japan, is not too far away to add to the devastating blow. That would be the end of North Korea.

Again, all this requires great statesmanship from South Korea and imaginative thinking. It is the centerpiece in the jigsaw puzzle. The US, China and Russia should play secondary roles. Right now, the US is calling the shots, to the detriment of a long-term solution. South Korea’s interest and that of the US, though similar, are not actually identical. The US has a larger geopolitical goal in mind. Right now, South Korea is not punching above its weight.

It might well be that North Korea may reject a meaningful proposal to dismantle its nuclear program. That would lead to a consequence not desirable for the North.

But first let diplomacy work its way.

By Wilkim Long
Resident of Singapore