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Oberdorfer: On Verge of 'New Day' on Korean Peninsula

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: Don Oberdorfer, chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

October 4, 2007

Don Oberdorfer, an Asia expert and author of The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History, says that although it is dangerous to be too optimistic, he thinks the latest Six-Party agreement on getting North Korea to divulge all its nuclear secrets, and the latest meeting of the leaders of North and South Korea, indicate that “for once on the Korean peninsula, the stars are in alignment.” He says by the end of the year, “the situation in North Korea is very likely to look much more positive than it has really at any time in recent memory.”

This morning when I turned on the BBC, the newscast started by saying that the last days of the Cold War may be near. They were talking about the developments regarding North Korea at the Six-Party Talks and signing of the latest agreement between North and South Korea looking toward an eventual peace treaty, signed by the two leaders. Is this a little overblown?

No, I don’t think it’s overblown if you mean in the sense that finally something is happening on the Korean peninsula that is going to greatly reduce and perhaps end the tension across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the Korea peninsula. As an historian of the Cold War, it was over a long time ago but you have this remaining problem which is inherited from the Cold War and from the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945. This problem—if not ended—is now sufficiently dealt with that it should not be a cause for grave international concern.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.