Last year marked the 60th anniversary of the ROK-US alliance as well as the Korean War armistice. Next year will mark 70 years of Korean independence, but at the same time, national division. The division of the Korean Peninsula was the result of a reckless compromise between great powers based on short-term tactical expediency rather than long-term strategic vision. For the past 70 years, Koreans have been yearning for reunification. Each time North Korea threatens us with yet another provocation or nuclear annihilation, or each time we learn about the political terror and humanitarian disaster gripping North Korea, reunification becomes a moral imperative. Without North Korea’s denuclearization and the ultimate reunification of the Korean Peninsula, lasting peace in East Asia will never be realized.