Axel Berkofsky, Adjunct Professor at the University Milan and Advisor on Asian Affairs at the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels, notes, “North Korea will not be ‘decisive and to try to make a deal with Bush while he is a lame duck ultimately, the Six-Party talks will break down under a McCain presidency or be replaced by a new process under a Democratic administration.’”

Leonid Petrov, Research Associate in the Division of Pacific and Asian History at Australian National University, writes, “During the last decade, the dynamics of inter-Korean cooperation have made unprecedented progress. It would be unforgivable to slow down this process only because someone may find a peaceful compromise excessively expensive. Let us not forget that this matter is about the future of the Korean people, and attempts to economize on the future of the people sooner or later leads to political bankruptcy.”

Karin J. Lee, Executive Director of the national Committee on North Korea, writes, “The concert itself did not resolve deeply held national security concerns on either side -nor should anyone expect a concert to have such an impact What may have changed, incrementally, is that a few words have been added to a common cultural vocabulary. Now each country has an additional image of the other country, a new cultural point of reference to add to the customary images of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Ultimately, exchanges such as these prepare the people in both countries to sustain the peace that we hope will be brokered by our respective governments.”