# alliance

Seoul’s Risky Bid to ‘Co-Manage’ the DMZ: A Play for Autonomy That Could Unravel Stability

Seoul has proposed joint South Korea–US management of the DMZ, a move framed as a compromise but seen by critics as an attempt to reclaim authority from US command. The plan risks undermining alliance cohesion, provoking North Korea, and creating operational confusion unless accompanied by deeper changes to wartime command arrangements and renewed diplomacy.