Matthew Bunn, a Professor at Harvard Kennedy School, analyzes how the U.S. and South Korea can effectively manage potential escalation on the Korean Peninsula. Emphasizing that a strengthened U.S. extended deterrence could induce a military response from the DPRK due to the security dilemma, Bunn warns that the U.S. and ROK must always consider how the DPRK would perceive and respond to the growing security alliance. Furthermore, noting that successful deterrence requires ultimate denuclearization of the DPRK, Bunn urges the U.S. and ROK to carefully plan out sys-tematic confidence-building measures. This content is an excerpt from the first session of the Global NK International Conference held on May 10, 2023. The session was titled, "Nuclear Competition and Security Challenges in East Asia: DPRK Policies of ROK, US, and PRC, and the Scenarios of Military Confrontations."
