The Korean Peninsula and U.S.-China Relations

The Korean War was the first major war of the Cold War and turned the U.S. and China into enemies. China did not normalize its relationship with Seoul until 1992, 13 years after it established full diplomatic relations with the U.S. Two years later, President Carter visited Pyongyang at the invitation of Kim Il-sung. President Carter believed the U.S. and DPRK were on the verge of war then and tried to convince the Clinton administration that the U.S. should agree to direct negotiations with Pyongyang to resolve the conflict. Early in the 21^st century, China hosted the Six-Party Talks in an effort to resolve the crisis and achieve denuclearization of the Peninsula. Today, almost 30 years after President Carter’s historic visit, the Korean Peninsular remains one of the most dangerous places where a war can break out and turn Northeast Asia into a sea of conflagration.  This talk focuses on how the U.S. and China worked together in the past to manage the crisis, why they failed to deescalate the situation, and what Washington and Beijing can do today to defuse the tension and embark on the goal of eventual denuclearization of the Peninsula.