[Article] Nuclear War on the Korean Peninsula: Possible Imaginings and Impossible Countermeasures / Moon Jangnyeol
The Quarterly Changbi 198, Winter 2022
Abstract
Professor Moon Jangnyeol, formerly of Korea National Defense University, analyzes from different angles the latest danger of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. Examining how the current Yoon Suk Yeol government is intensifying military tensions on and around the Korean peninsula, as it unconditionally accepts the nuclear containment policy prioritizing military means and US extended deterrence (nuclear umbrella), Moon calmly assesses where and how the possibility of the outbreak of a nuclear war is heightened and what would be the reality of its disastrous outcome. Urging the policy communities’ serious discussion of and public interest in the prevention of such a situation, he repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the peace process on the Korean peninsula, in which peace should be the priority for denuclearization, rather than insisting on the “denuclearization before peace” framework.