Beyond Korean Americans: Growing Concerns Among Americans about War with North Korea

Last month, I spoke at an educational event at Syracuse University on North Korea. Around sixty students from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs heard from former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald P. Gregg; the Director of AsiaEast.org and founder of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Foundation-USA, Stephen Costello; the Director of the Korea Art Forum in New York, Heng-Gil Han; and me.

What was most striking about the event was how much all of us had to say. From seasoned diplomats like Ambassador Gregg to students of various ethnicities and backgrounds, we all had strong opinions when it came to the current state of U.S.-North Korea relations.

One African American undergraduate student who plays Korean drums at Syracuse said she was worried about another war on the Korean Peninsula. An elderly historian aired his frustration about our government’s responses to North Korea’s provocations and whether a nuclear war was possible in his lifetime. A graduate student in the audience asked what, if anything, concerned Americans can do to ensure that cooler heads prevail and that the United States strives for a diplomatic solution with North Korea.

While this was not an event exclusively for Korean Americans, I found the comments and questions from the audience quite similar to those I often get from Korean Americans, whether they are in New York or Alaska. The same sense of frustration and anxiety about a preemptive war pervaded in both settings — but for Korean Americans, the fear is even more palpable and personal because of our heritage.

There are 1.7 million people of Korean descent in the United States. Like any ethnic group in the United States, we are varied in our political leanings, religious beliefs, and professions. But on the subject of North Korea, we are clear that war is absolutely the last resort. That is because we have seen what war does to a country.

Many of us have strong family and ancestral ties to both Koreas and personal connections to the Korean War. My own parents and grandparents saw their country ripped apart and gutted. Families were divided during the chaos of war. Generations of Koreans experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, not just from the physical act of fighting but also from living under the constant threat from the north. From the sinking of the South Korean navy ship Cheonan that killed 46 seamen to the bombardment of Yeongpyeong Island, South Koreans have long struggled to deal with North Korea’s belligerence, as well as witness the ruthless treatment of the 25 million Koreans who live under Kim Jong Un’s regime.

My organization, the Council of Korean Americans (CKA), is leading the charge on behalf of our community to stand against warmongering and hawks who are calling for war with North Korea. We want our government to invest more political will and adopt a more comprehensive approach toward addressing the North Korea problem. This includes appointing a U.S. Ambassador to South Korea without delay. It means appointing a high-profile senior envoy who can cut through the government bureaucracy and lead talks with Pyongyang in close coordination with regional allies. It means living up to the “maximum engagement” part of the “maximum pressure, maximum engagement” strategy of the Trump Administration by having more diverse channels for talks without unnecessary preconditions.

In two months, South Korea will convene the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games. Seoul has dubbed this an “Olympics of Peace,” in the hopes that participation by North Korean athletes will jump start inter-Korean dialogue.

Despite what some may say, war in the Korean Peninsula is not inevitable. As Americans, we need to send this message to our elected representatives in Congress whose job is to listen to their constituents and play a check and balance role against the executive branch. Whether you are a college student worried about the United States going to war or a Korean American who traces his or her heritage to the Korean Peninsula, the time to mobilize is now.

Jessica Lee is a Director of Policy and Advocacy of the Council of Korean Americans, a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of successful Korean American leaders. She is a Fellow with Truman National Security Project. Views expressed are her own.