North Korean Soldiers Fighting in Ukraine Could Spark World War III

The United States and North Korea have been enemies since the official start of the Korean War in June 1950, with only the 1953 Armistice preventing a renewal of military battle. Without a peace agreement, both nations have been prepared to return to war at any time.

The entry of North Koreans in the Ukraine war, if they participate in the fighting, could transform that conflict into a global war. For the United States and the two Koreas, it could become a second “hot stage” of the ongoing Korean War, a Cold War relic with age-defying staying power. 

The United States and North Korea have been enemies since the official start of the Korean War in June 1950, with only the 1953 Armistice preventing a renewal of military battle. Without a peace agreement, both nations have been prepared to return to war at any time. North Korea is a garrison state and a deeply militarized society that requires ten years of military service from every male citizen. 

The United States remains the most lethal military power in the world, and it retains control of the South Korean military at times of outright war. U.S. soldiers face North Korean soldiers every day across the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The United States also continuously holds joint training with allied nations, which included annual simulations of war against North Korea, staging realistic air and sea incursions right at its borders. 

Over seventy years since the armistice, it has always been diplomacy and engagement that opened up North Korea and decreased the risk of renewed open warfare. For nearly twenty years after the 1994 Agreed Framework, North Korea ceased nuclear weapons testing and welcomed tourists, international aid workers, investors, students, educators, musicians, artists, scientists, and the randomly curious from all over the world.

Civilians, including ordinary Americans, traveled to North Korea, talked with North Koreans, and had their own unique experiences of the country. However, when the Framework fell apart in 2003 and the United States failed to deliver the promised light water nuclear energy technology, North Korea turned back to nuclear weapons development.

Last year, North Korea declared itself a nuclear power ready to use the weapons. It abandoned its reunification policy and named South Korea as an enemy state. Sidestepping even further away from the West, it signed a mutual defense agreement with Russia earlier this year.

The global image of North Korea as a rogue state leads to the easy conclusion that they are simply belligerent, inscrutable, and even evil in the eyes of states that adhere to the rules-based order. However, their recent hostile actions have been enabled by the United States, which failed to fulfill its responsibilities as a global superpower to maintain stability and promote peace. 

What looks like the North Koreans giving a cold shoulder is more a bid for recognition as a sovereign nation that matters. 

After high hopes at the Singapore summit, the Hanoi summit was a disaster. In 2017, the United States banned its citizens from traveling to North Korea, making North Korea the only country in the world that Americans cannot visit. The United States has maintained economic sanctions on North Korea since 1948, even though studies are concluding that sanctions hurt civilians and do not change the sanctioned nation’s policies. The divide grows even stronger as the tripartite alliance between the United States, Japan, and South Korea positions North Korea as the enemy. 

This context can help explain North Korea’s turn toward Russia under the Vladimir Putin regime. After decades of seeking to engage with the United States as a recognized sovereign nation, North Korea is flexing its muscles to gain the United States’ attention. 

Will the United States respond wisely, making peace instead of war? Will hardliners in both countries back down and will peacemakers step forward? Will North Korea respond to a strong U.S. overture?

We won’t know unless we try. What we do know is that neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump have articulated a clear policy toward North Korea. North Korea is poised to once again disrupt the global order, and the United States has nothing in its toolbox other than saying that if North Koreans enter the war in Ukraine, they will be legitimate targets. 

The United States and North Korea have had seven decades to get to know each other and make peace. Instead, they are again on the brink of war. 

No one benefits from war with North Korea, least of all North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. No one benefits from escalating the war in Ukraine. The civilian casualties are already immense for the Ukrainian people, as they were for the Korean people during the active war years of 1950 to 1953. Koreans all over the world are still affected by the generational, long-term consequences of war, as are Americans. 

The legacies of war are long and terrible, and they are borne by ordinary people, our families, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. 

The major players must step back from the brink and make peace. 

About the Author: 

Ji-Yeon Yuh teaches history at Northwestern University and is a longtime peace activist. 

 Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock.