This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Since 1953, when a ceasefire halted major hostilities, no peace treaty has ever been signed between the United States and North Korea to bring an end to this conflict. As a result, the United States and South Korea have remained in a deadly standoff with North Korea, leaving the Korean Peninsula effectively in an unending state of war.

Today, the US also has an important role to play in breaking the cycle of brinkmanship on the Korean Peninsula. Rather than perpetuate the confrontation, the US could help to bring an end to the war by signing a peace agreement and working toward replacing the 1953 Armistice Agreement with a formal peace treaty.

Given that the Obama Administration has pledged to honor principles of diplomacy in crafting its foreign policy, the US has started to explore renewed efforts to engage North Korea. Now is the time to establish a permanent peace and to finally end the Korean War.

The stakes for peace in Korea are enormous, and the US has a vital role to play in helping to end the Korean War.

• For 60 years, the US and South Korea have remained in a perilous state of war with North Korea, without formal diplomatic channels that could help to defuse crises and to avoid the constant threat of military escalation.
• A renewed Korean War would be catastrophic, and millions of lives are at stake.
• The US can help bring about an end to the Korean War by signing a peace agreement and engaging in talks to replace the 1953 Armistice Agreement with a formal peace treaty.

This year’s commemorations underscore the fact that the Korean War and ongoing division have caused a lifetime of anguish for millions of Koreans and Korean Americans.

• The special significance of this year’s 60th anniversary of the Korean War stems in part from the traditional Asian belief that 60 years represent a full life cycle.
• Millions of Koreans, on the Korean Peninsula and in diasporic communities, have been separated from their family members in North Korea for over six decades.

At a time when the US Government faces severe financial constraints, peace on the Korean Peninsula would save billions of US tax dollars.

• The US alone spends over $1.13 billion per year to maintain more than 28,500 troops at 62 bases and 25 other installations in South Korea.
• Given the enormous annual expense of US taxpayer money, American citizens have a direct interest in bringing about peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The US should weigh the risks of adopting a hostile military posture in Korea, which can have an adverse impact on regional, as well as global, security.

• The peace process in Korea is undermined by US participation in war games. Annual large-scale joint US-South Korean military exercises, called “Key Resolve” and “Foal Eagle,” simulate combined attacks against North Korea and lead to a dangerous increase in tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
• In 2004, the United States revised military operation plan OPLAN 5027 to allow for the use of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against North Korea. This change likely contributed to the decision by North Korea to announce its own nuclear defense program in 2006.

The Cheonan sinking is a tragic incident that should not become a wedge issue for the sake of pursuing political gain.

• Recent independent investigations by scholars based in South Korea and in the US have persuasively challenged the rush to judgment and flawed methodology behind the South Korean government’s claim that North Korea is solely responsible for the Cheonan sinking.
• Regardless of who or what is to blame for the sinking, the tragic incident clearly illustrates the need for a peaceful solution to end the long Korean War.