The following article is an opinion piece by Cheehyung Harrison Kim, an associate professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and a member of the Korea Peace Now Grassroots Network. Views expressed in opinion articles are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News.

After over a year of standstill, the dialogue between the governments of North Korea and South Korea is on the verge of resumption. A joint South Korea-United States military exercise — which is set to begin in South Korea in the second week of March — is a serious