For the first time since the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which Seoul blames on the North, officials from North Korea met with the American-led United Nations Command which enforces the armistice that ended the Korean War. International relations Professor William Keylor, author of “A World of Nations: The International Order Since 1945,” said the whole affair has a back-to-the-future flavor to it, with face-to-face metings in Panmunjon 60 years after the Korean armistice and U.S. gunboat diplomacy 112 years after the Spanish-American War.
“What an engaging exercise in nostalgia for a bygone era, and a welcome distraction from the economic problems we face — unless the outcome is a new war on the Korean peninsula.”
Contact William Keylor, 617-358-0197, wrkeylor@bu.edu
