“The Joint Recovery of Fallen Soldiers from the Korean War: One Way for American, Chinese, North and South Korean Soldiers to Cooperate and Reconcile,” is the title of a paper by Dr. Sungmin Cho for Security Nexus. This article recommends a cooperative solution to easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Summary

For a new approach to break through the diplomatic stalemate on the Korean Peninsula, this paper makes a policy recommendation to launch a joint recovery project calling for soldiers from the U.S., China, North and South Korea to work together on recovering the remains of their predecessors who died during the Korean War seventy years ago. The joint recovery project generates multiple positive effects. First, its symbolism is powerful. The act of jointly recovering and identifying the fallen heroes symbolizes the process of reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. Second, the joint recovery project creates an opportunity for strategic communication between Washington and Pyongyang/Beijing. Information collected from Korean, Chinese and English sources shows why each country is likely to join this cooperative, multilateral project.

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Dr. Sungmin Cho is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) in Honolulu, USA. The views expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the DKI APCSS or the United States Government.

Security Nexus is a peer-reviewed, online journal published by the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.