Commentary: Military deterrence only to escalate tensions on Korean Peninsula

Military deterrence in the form of joint drills will not help ease simmering tensions on the Korean Peninsula but could bring a result that harms the interests of related parties.

South Korea and the United States on Monday launched their largest ever joint military drills, the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises, which will involve tens of thousands of troops and mobilize highest-tech weapons.

The drills took place at a time when tensions on the peninsula have escalated after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted a nuclear test which it claimed as a hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and launched a satellite seen as a long-range ballistic missile on Feb. 7.

For starters, any improper handling of the drills without a peaceful purpose, which were instead aimed at deterring the DPRK from further provocations, could turn the exercises into a real war.

It seems that Seoul and Washington have made preparations for that eventuality.

The Key Resolve exercise for the first time will include OPLAN 5015, which aims to remove the DPRK's weapons of mass destruction and prepare the allied troops for a pre-emptive strike in the event of a DPRK attack, according to South Korean military officials.

A South Korean military official quoted by Yonhap even said that "if the North (DPRK) provokes us during this exercise, the U.S. and our troops will retaliate with an attack ten-fold stronger."

History has proven that any solutions by force will produce no good results but lead to a vicious circle of violence for violence.

Peaceful means are particularly needed to solve the DPRK nuclear issue with regard to the sensitive and complex situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Therefore, the UN Security Council approved its toughest sanctions against the DPRK to date to curb its nuclear programs and called for a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation.

The China-proposed "parallel-track approach," namely, working to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and replace the Korean armistice with a peace agreement at the same time, is a reasonable and practical way to resolve the issue under the current circumstances.

Besides, unremitting endeavor should never be abandoned so as to resume at an early date the Six-Party Talks suspended since December 2008. It needs great determination and efforts of related countries -- especially the United States and the DPRK -- to go back to the negotiating table.

All in all, safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia as well as promoting the denuclearization of the peninsula is in the common interest of concerned parties including the United States and South Korea.

It is advisable that they proceed out of the overall interests of all countries in the region and make joint efforts to cool down the tensions on the peninsula. Endi