Seventy years after the warring parties signed the Korean Armistice Agreement, the clouds of war are still gathered over the Korean Peninsula.
On Thursday, at a commemorative rally to mark the occasion, with delegations from China and Russia in attendance, Kim Jong-un, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said that his country was "ready to respond to any kind of war the American imperialists want".
The other side of the conflict was not quiet, either. On Friday, the White House announced US President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol for a trilateral summit at Camp David. The importance of the meeting, scheduled for Aug 18, is evident in the fact that it would be the first visit by any foreign leader to the presidential resort since Biden took office, and the first since 2015 when Barack Obama was president.
The idea is to strengthen trilateral cooperation on a range of issues, of which White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre highlighted the threat posed by Pyongyang. According to ROK media reports, a focus of the three parties' discussions will be on enhancing military deterrence against the DPRK, and possibly kick-starting intelligence-sharing on DPRK missile pre-warning.
Considering Washington has recently responded to Pyongyang's nuclear rhetoric by saying nuclear strikes are an option, the risk of hostilities flaring up again on the peninsula has actually reached a whole new level since the cease-fire was negotiated 70 years ago.
As the US, Japanese and ROK leaders convene next month in Maryland, they should talk more about crisis management, rather than moves that will only further upgrade the tensions on the peninsula.
At their meeting in Washington in April to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the US-ROK Alliance, Biden and Yoon reiterated their commitment to diplomacy with the DPRK "as the only viable means of achieving lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula".
The situation on the peninsula is already fragile. If the three countries truly share a commitment to securing peace on the peninsula, they should demonstrate it at Camp David by agreeing to reengage with Pyongyang on negotiations to secure a peace treaty and guarantees that address the security concerns of all parties.
Their planned summertime joint military drill, which has been suspended for years, would do a disservice to securing a political solution to the long-standing tensions on the peninsula.
