[Editorial] Pyongyang and Washington need to remain flexible to avoid backsliding into past tensions

Former White House National Security Advisor Herbert McMaster during the Munich Security Conference in February 2018. (EPA/Yonhap News)

Herbert McMaster, who assisted US President Donald Trump with his foreign affairs and national security policy at the White House as National Security Advisor until March 2018, was reported by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper on June 1 as effectively saying the situation between North Korea and the US would have headed for war had it not been for the two sides’ summit last year. In an interview with the newspaper, McMaster said that while he believed a military clash with North Korea could be avoided, he had to prepare every military option in anticipation of a worst-case scenario. When asked how realistic the prospects of a military attack were, he replied that the situation was “headed for war” had it not been for the change in approaches.

While McMaster did not elaborate on what he meant exactly by a change in approaches, analysts interpreted it as referring to Trump’s agreement to a North Korea-US summit brokered by Seoul. The remarks are significant in confirming that the North Korea-US summit helped turn around the situation of rapidly rising military tensions on the Korean Peninsula early last year, shifting things toward dialogue and negotiations and reducing the threat of war.

The reason McMaster’s remarks are drawing attention now stems from fears that tensions on the peninsula are increasing once again as the North Korea-US denuclearization talks that reduced the threat of war remain stuck in a stalemate since the collapse of the Hanoi summit. North Korea recently test-launched short-range missiles, albeit at a limited level, and there have been growing calls for stiffer sanctions from the US Congress and administration. It’s a moment that desperately calls for more flexible attitudes from Pyongyang and Washington if they are to avoid backsliding to the way things were in the past.

It was the South Korean government that played a guiding role in the “change in approaches” last year. The approach of the conservative political opposition and media – which have denounced the administration’s policies because of the lack of visible results to date from that shift – is less persuasive when we take the risk of war into account. No matter how slow the dialogue efforts are or how uncertain the results, it’s still a better option than marching toward war.

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