Across the 34th parallel from each other, North Korea soldiers and soldiers of the United States and South Korea still patrol, maintaining the demilitarized zone that has enforced a ceasefire agreement since the end of the Korean War. However, recent developments have shown that this tense ceasefire could bring forth a peace treaty. On Jan. 11, North Korean envoys offered to return to halted talks on nuclear disarmament in exchange for lifting of American trade sanctions and a permanent peace treaty with the United States and South Korea.
The Korean Central News Agency said to The New York Times that North Korea’s foreign ministry released the following statement on Monday in support of the measure, stating that if a peace treaty is signed, it will help resolve hostile relations between North Korea and the United States and speed up the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The United States would likely impose conditions of its own. Robert King, the American special envoy to North Korea, said to BBC World News of Korea, “It’s one of the worst places in terms of lack of human rights.”
The human rights situation in North Korea is a serious concern with an estimated 200,000 inmates in political prison camps across the country.
According to Security.org, nuclear disarmament talks ended in April 2009 when the government in Pyongyang was condemned worldwide after a missile test. The nuclear test that followed in May only increased criticism.
North Korea’s political isolation has its roots in the Cold War, and in 50 years of mutual paranoia and distrust between the United States, South Korea, and North Korea.
“If we continue to isolate the regime in North Korea we give them power. North Korea is not a real threat to the United States,” said Associate Professor of Political Science George Guo.
Guo said that the the North Korean regime of Kim Jong Il exists only because of the American enforced isolation of the country, and if gradual overtures of peace and goodwill are made, the regime in North Korea will be made obsolete.
To the U.S. government, the heart of the issue is the existence of the North Korean nuclear program and arsenal, comparatively small as they may be.
“Is it a level playing field?” said Assistant Professor of History Zhihong Chen. “Certainly not.”
Chen noted the large gap between North Korea’s small nuclear arsenal and the United States’ much larger one. Chen also suggested that a resolution could be reached if both the United States and North Korea are willing to negotiate.
“All changes must begin with small steps,” said Chen.
However, policy-makers in Washington and Seoul are wary of the sincerity of North Korea’s intentions, and fear its peace bid is motivated less by interest in nuclear reform than by a desire for economic growth in the absence of weighty sanctions.