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Author : G. Ivashentsov
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, on June 25, 1950, the first salvoes of
the Korean War were fired - a war that lasted for over three years
and has become one of the most bloody and devastating military
conflicts of the latter half of the twentieth century. Its disastrous
effects are still being felt today.
The start of the Korean War was in many ways predetermined by
the rise of the Cold War. From 1910 to 1945, Korea was Japan's
colony.
The Korean War started as a confrontation between the two Ko-
rean poles - the North which was striving to implement a Soviet
model in order to unite the country, and the South which was con-
tinuously declaring its commitment to American standards. Under the Cold War, however, a con-
frontation grew into a full-scale military conflict, which was one step from using nuclear weapons.
Neither the North nor the South, however, was able to reach the desired objectives.
Both Russia and China are objectively interested in U.S. presence in Asia and in joint cooperation
with it, but, naturally, outside the "America-centric system."
The situation in the Korean peninsula has long been largely determined by the China factor. At
one time, both Pyongyang and Beijing claimed that North Korea and China "depend on each
other like lips and teeth," that "the two countries' friendship has been sealed with blood," because
over 500,000 Chinese people's volunteers were killed in the Korean War, fighting on the side of
the North.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT SITUATION like in North Korea? By shifting focus from Marxism
and Socialism to national traditions and Confucian values, the South Korean leadership declared
the "Songun policy" a framework for the strategy of the country's survival, i.e., prioritizing the
role of the army in the affairs of state, which implies the stepping up of military preparations,
including the nuclear program.
A peace treaty which should ultimately supersede the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953,
should not only be a non-aggression pact, but also a comprehensive partnership instrument,
turning DPRK from a "rogue state" into a full-fledged member of the international cooperation
and a beneficiary of international financial institutions.
Forming legally binding regional partnerships or associations in accordance with the sectoral di-
vision and adjusting their working mechanisms will finally allow creating the conditions for an
accelerated movement toward establishing an integrated security system in Northeast Asia.
A Long and Winding Road to Peace on the Korean Peninsula