Chapter 6: A Review of the Strategic Situation on the Korean Peninsula
This essay was translated by JIN Bing and proofread by HOU Songshan and WU Chengyi.
The year 2016 witnessed a significant increase in instable and uncertain factors on the Korean Peninsula, with the North Korean nuclear issue continuing to heat up. North Korea remained committed to the development of its nuclear and missile capabilities, while the United States focused on putting more pressure on North Korea together with its allies. It was extremely difficult to restart talks on North Korea’s nuclear program and the gaming of power among relevant parties entered a stalemate. It is probable that the security situation on the Korean Peninsula was experiencing a critical point where quantity changes could lead to quality changes. Any contingency could become “the last straw”, directly impacting the future development of the strategic situation on the Peninsula.
