What is Washington’s role on the Korean Peninsula?

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By CGTN's World Insight

The United States and South Korea began their annual joint military drills – Ulchi Freedom Guardian – on Monday amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The 11-day war games run until August 31 and involve 50,000 South Korean troops and around 175,000 soldiers from the United States.

Once again, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has blasted the military exercises, branding them a highly provocative rehearsal for invasion.

Biochemical warfare soldiers during a drill as part of Ulchi Freedom Guardian. /AFP Photo

Kiyul Chung, a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University from South Korea, said on CGTN’s World Insight that the US alliance does not in fact defend South Korea’s democracy at all and that self-determined reunification is the top priority for the Korean people.

“The US has not been supportive of our self-determined peaceful reunification,” he said, “the divide and conquer strategy has ruined our Korean peninsula. From the Korean War, more than 4 million people out of a population of less than 13 million were wiped out and we do not want any war on the Korean Peninsula. We hope for a peaceful solution for Korea.”

Wang Yiwei, the director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University, said he couldn’t agree more.

“China and South Korea are the most important neighbors of the North Korea (DPRK), so we feel more uncomfortable about the North Korea situation or missile tests,” he said.

“But the US is far away from North Korea and the Korean Peninsula. The military exercises happen again and again, it’s very close to China’s territory, the missile defense system THAAD is also a challenge to China’s national security. So China and South Korea should work together to negotiate, to help North Korea get back to the negotiation table,” he added.

However, director of Research for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution Michael O'Hanlon strongly disagreed with this line of reasoning.

“I have a lot of problems with our South Korean friend, historically speaking. It’s offensive to say the US killed a third of the Korean population. We came to defend South Korea when asked, we have stayed there ever since we were asked,” he countered.

Anti-war demonstrators protest against the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills outside the US embassy in Seoul. /AFP Photo

O’Hanlon argued that Washingon is not interested in dividing and conquering.

“The South Korean guest does not speak for his country. The vast majority of South Koreans disagree very strongly, which is why there is still a US-ROK alliance, because they want our help to protect against North Korea. Yes there are disagreements over how to pursue peaceful resolution, but these are disagreements among friends,” he maintained.

World Insight with Tian Wei is a 45-minute global affairs and debate show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 10.15 p.m. BJT (1415GMT), with rebroadcasts at 4.15 a.m. BJT (2015GMT).

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