Potential Paths to Korean Unification.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

Although the recent "second" summit between Pres. Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un essentially was a bust, "there are a series of paths to Korean unification," says Bruce Bennett, senior international defense researcher at the RAND National Security Research Division and author of the report, "Alternative Paths to Korean Unification," which examines challenges that dramatically could affect how the reunification process between South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea or ROK) and North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK) might develop and how it might ultimately be resolved.

"War could lead to ROK/U.S. conquest of North Korea, North Korean conquest of the ROK, or no unification," Bennett states. "A collapse of the North Korean regime could lead to ROK/U.S. intervention to achieve unification, a negotiated unification with the successor regime, or no unification. A peaceful unification could be dominated by the ROK, dominated by DPRK, achieved by full cooperation between the ROK and the North, or attempted by cooperation that creates a confederation that...