Peace on Korean Peninsula

 Excerpts from "Peace on the Korean Peninsula Needs to Be a Priority," by Kevin Martin [President of Peace Action], published by "Peace Voice", on July 13, 2021.

"President Joe Biden deserves credit for successfully re-engaging in international diplomacy. Extending the New START nuclear arms control agreement with Russia, rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, World  Health Organization and UN Human Rights Council, and especially (hopefully soon) getting the US back into the Iran anti-nuclear deal are significant achievements. Policy experts, grassroots organizations and elected officials advocated these moves, and they advance US and global peace and security.

However, an issue that should be a high priority, negotiations for a peace agreement on the Korean Peninsula, is missing from the list. It should be and if the Administration won't take it up, Congress and concerned individuals should provide a strong nudge."

"A treaty to officially end the Korean War -- which was never formally ended, as the 1953 Armistice was  meant to be temporary -- seems out of reach due to the partisan nature of the US Senate, a treaties require a two-thirds majority for ratification. However, a peace agreement, possibly requiring only simple majority support of both Houses of the US Congress, could go a long way to ease tensions, including reducing the North's desire to retain its nuclear weapons indefinitely.

Immediate denuclearization by North Korea is unrealistic, but a peace agreement that reduces conventional forces and weapons on the Peninsula would be a critical first step toward ultimate nuclear disarmament on the Peninsula and in the region.

Another benefit to US and global security could be cooperation with China in regional security matters. The US national security establishment seems hell-bent on the preposterously bad idea of a dangerous, unnecessary and exorbitant Cold War with China, and multilateral diplomacy around Korea, whether    as a first or second step, would be a good start to easing US-China tensions.

ADDENDUMS:

* According to the Washington Post, the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 hit a record high of 1,900 on Saturday, August 14.

*Based again on a Washington Post report, there are now 130 Secret Service officers either now infested or in quarantine because of exposure to the coronavirus.

*Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins revealed that in "Dallas [Texas] we have zero ICU beds left for children."