Second Korean War 'possible'
Graham T. Allison
By Park Si-soo
Are the two Koreas headed for war again?
Graham T. Allison, a famed American political scientist at Harvard University and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy and Plans, says it's “possible.”
He told a recent academic forum in Japan that the chance of a second Korean War is “increasing” as the impasse in denuclearization negotiations between North Korea and the U.S. continues, especially with the year-end deadline for talks rising on the horizon.
According to the Japanese daily
that covered the forum on Thursday, Allison said the probability of the two Koreas going to war was “lower than 50 percent, but it's quite possible.”
Depicting the current situation as “very dangerous,” Allison called on Japan and China to play their roles “immediately” to avoid war, according to Sankei.
He said if the deadline passes and the North resumes ballistic missile or nuclear tests ― like the provocation-filled period “before November 2017” ― U.S. President Donald Trump could order a military strike on the North's missile launchers and key military facilities, which could trigger a bloody inter-Korean conflict.