In crisis after crisis of the volatile early Cold War, from Dien Bien Phu to Budapest to Quemoy to Berlin, Eisenhower stood strongly on the side of peace and compromise. He was no ideologue, but rather a peace-oriented pragmatist. Fortunately for the world, many subsequent U.S. presidents followed his admirable example of realism and restraint, at least to some extent.

It is quite likely that the war in Ukraine will end in a similar fashion to the Korean War. With the approach of the 70^th anniversary of the Korean Armistice in July 2023, that important moment could give President Biden an extraordinary opportunity to play peacemaker. In fact, Russian strategists have already put aside their extremist original war aims and are now actively discussing the “Korean Scenario” for Ukraine. 

One such discussion earlier this month noted that the Korean War was more bloody than the current Ukraine War, but, “even with this in mind, the war still managed to be stopped — with the mediation of the UN.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was elected originally to seek peace with Russia, knows that his country has been bled white in this struggle and it is well past time to turn to the arduous task of rebuilding. As there has been most likely hundreds of thousands of casualties in the present conflict, humanitarians across the whole world must hope courageous leaders will step forward to mediate and encourage Putin and Zelensky to consider a “Korea solution.”

Is the Ukraine War moving toward a ‘Korea solution’? – Responsible Statecraft