An emergency on the Korean Peninsula is among the “most stressing” of contingencies the U.S. faces and Washington should coordinate closely with China for such an event, a panel of defense experts have recommended.

The non-partisan National Defense Panel, which delivered its Department of Defense 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review(QDR) to Congress at the end of last week, singles out a conflict on the Korean Peninsula or a collapse of the Pyongyang government as a prospect requiring advanced preparation by the U.S. armed forces. Much of the report rails against spending cuts to the military, which its said have impeded