Recently, North Korea tested another nuclear bomb and launched a missile flying over Japan. The power of the hydrogen bomb created a 6.3 Richter scale earthquake; naturally, this is threatening South Korea, Japan and the United States as well as making China unhappy. This is North Korea's sixth nuclear weapon test and the first test since Trump became the President of the U.S., obviously adding pressure to the Trump Administration in how it deals with the North Korea nuclear threat. At this point, one cannot ascertain that North Korea is already capable to launch a missile mounted with a nuclear bomb. The reaction of South Korea is to completely isolate North Korea and threatens to take military action to remove Kim Jong-un while the U.S. accuses North Korea of inviting war and threatens that a total retaliation will be the U.S. response.

After the hydrogen bomb test, China warned North Korea not to take any wrong action. Putin, the President of Russia, claimed that North Korea should be given the strongest condemnation. He warned the U.S. that economic sanctions alone do not work and other means must be explored. He also warned Kim to remember the fate of Qaddafi in Libya. Obviously, Russia has no solution to the North Korea crisis. Careful analysis seems to suggest that China’s and Russia's positions towards North Korea are gradually converging. China opposes North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, but disagrees with the U.S. in its blaming the problem on others, especially blaming and pressuring China. Observing the stalemate situation today, North Korea is not begging war as claimed by the U.S.; rather North Korea is seeking its regime's security.

Since the 1960s North Korea has been interested in developing nuclear weapon. In 1964, China succeeded in the development of its first nuclear bomb; North Korea immediately requested China to share the technology with it but was turned down by China. In the 1970s North Korea started investing in nuclear technology with the intention to develop nuclear weapons, but the U.S. and China both opposed it. The U.S. always wanted North Korea to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). North Korea’s first time to agree signing the NPT was in 1992. Due to disagreement regarding inspection procedures, North Korea threatened to withdraw from the treaty the next year. The negotiation continued until 2003, when North Korea formally withdrew and started the six-party negotiation. North Korea joined the NPT in 2005 again but not for long and returned to the negotiation table until 2011 when Kim Jong Il died and Kim Jong-un took over at the end of that year. Since then North Korea has not agreed to rejoin the NPT.

From 2012 to today, North Korea had continued the development of nuclear weapons and missiles reaching today's status. Whom should we blame for this historical development? Upon an in-depth analysis of this issue, the U.S. cannot shake off all her responsibilities in this matter, because the U.S. basically did not handle the ending of the Korean War well. When the Korean War (6/1950-7/1953) ended, the U.S. did not sign a peace treaty with North Korea but only signed a ceasefire agreement. Thus, North Korea has always maintained an at-war situation as it remained concerned about the security of its regime. The U.S. never considered whether North and South Korea should be united and under what conditions. In fact, the fundamental issue of the Korean Peninsula is the arbitrary division of the North and South by the 38-degree line without considering that the ultimate peace in the peninsula hinges on a peaceful unification of North and South Korea. The unification of West and East Germany and of North and South Vietnam both brought peace to the two regions, even economic prosperity. We can imagine, if there was a unification plan for North-South Korea, that we then may not have a confrontational Two-Koreas and consequently no nuclear threat today. In hindsight, the Post Korean War strategy of the U.S. was short-sighted. Later, when the U.S. was establishing its diplomatic relations with China, there was an opportunity to work with China to develop a blueprint for unification of the two Koreas. But the U.S. maintained its two-Korea policy which led to today's headache.

In dealing with North Korea today, the U.S. seems to be still just looking at the surface of the problem and not the root of the issue. The U.S. still thinks about how to apply pressure to China and force North Korea to stop its nuclear weapon development. Actually, other than having a mutually agreeable peaceful reunification plan with South Korea, the North Korea can only pin its regime's security on nuclear weapons. So long as there is a big divide in the economy of the two Koreas, there will never be peace. So long as there is no unification plan for the two Koreas, there will be little chance to bring their economic levels closer. The peace in Korea Peninsula, in turn, impacts the peace in Asia, and the world peace depends on the unification of the two Koreas. The U.S. should understand this. Japan should also understand this. We cannot treat the Korean Peninsula as a colony subject to arbitrary division. The people in the two Koreas are the same race sharing the same language and history; hence there should be only one nation producing benefits for all Koreans.

On the Korean Peninsula issue, the U.S., Russia and China may have very different views and thinking at the beginning. Now the problem has snowballed, so the three nations must review and revise their positions. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's economy needs boosting. China's rapid rise demands it to maintain a stable growth its huge population. The U.S. must adjust its domestic and foreign policies to deal with its national debt and future development. It is logical for the three great powers to handle tough world issues together. The Korea Peninsula crisis is just such an issue. If the three nations can sit down and talk, while focusing on the root issue, the Korean Peninsula problem is not too difficult to solve. If the three great powers agree on a peaceful unification plan for Korea, we can see many benefits. First, the economy of the South can expand to the North. Second, the North can divert the energy from nuclear weapons development towards economic development. The North Korean people will have immediate benefits. From the German and Vietnamese examples, we believe that the Koreans can help themselves. Third, the whole of Asia will have peace. The neighboring countries will not have to increase their military budgets. The Japanese would not have to worry that nuclear missile may fly over their heads. Both the United States and Russia will have one less headache or problem to divert their focus on economy. China can concentrate on her “One Belt, One Road” initiative to stimulate the world economy. So the unification of the two Koreas can be a plan benefitting everyone. In fact, from this we can also see that the reunification of the mainland and Taiwan will also be a win-win case bringing benefits to everyone.