Indong Oh

Indong Oh, a physician, is director of Korea-2000, a Los Angeles–based research council that explores avenues that could lead to Korean unification. In the following viewpoint, he argues that the United States should break the military and political stalemate in the Korean peninsula by signing a peace agreement with North Korea and by gradually withdrawing its forces from South Korea. Such actions would reduce South Korea’s dependence on the United States and assuage North Korean fears of American intentions in the region. The ultimate goal of U.S. policy should be a peacefully reunited and nuclear-free Korea, he concludes.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What motivates North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to Oh?
2. Why is the United...