Stakeholders in peninsula issue should abandon Cold War mentality

When the US-led "United Nations force" intervened to "defend" the Republic of Korea, advanced into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and neared the border with China, Beijing was compelled to send the Chinese People's Volunteers force on the request of the DPRK government to resist US aggression. On July 27, 1953, after more than two years of intense fighting, the two warring sides signed an armistice, ending the conflicts. But no peace treaty was signed.

The stability on the peninsula has remained somewhat fragile, though, because the US has continued to interfere in and manipulate the Korean Peninsula issue. Washington claims its military alliances in the region are based on so-called democratic values, thus intensifying tensions on the peninsula, because the DPRK sees those military alliances as a serious security threat. For example, the US has included the ROK in its "Indo-Pacific strategy" and consolidated its military presence on and around the peninsula, posing a potent threat to not only the DPRK but also China.

ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol has abandoned his predecessor Moon Jae-in's policy of maintaining peace to seek reconciliation and instead is promoting the US' "Indo-Pacific strategy", injecting hostility into inter-Korean relations.