Seventy years later, with the Korean War still not officially over, and the United States and China once again jousting for influence in Asia, participants are drawing starkly differing conclusions from the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.
Never since the Doomsday Clock’s 1947 Cold War debut has it come so close to the putative doomsday annihilation represented by the 12 a.m. hour.
The stalemate of past months has revealed fundamental differences between the two sides. North Korea says it will never unilaterally surrender its nuclear weapons and missiles and insists that U.S.-led sanctions against it should be lifted first before any progress in negotiations.
In April, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the U.S. must come up with new proposals to revive the talks by December.