Think tanks based in South Korea and the U.S. conducted a virtual role-playing peace game exercise, which concluded that advancing peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula will require the highest level of executive leadership.

According to a brief posted online on Monday, the simulated diplomatic negotiations involving four-member teams representing the two Koreas, the U.S. and China were carried out last October. The event was hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, and the Sejong Institute in South Korea.

The teams spent four days presenting each of their positions based on three scenarios, after which they conducted debates.

Citing that Washington and Pyongyang hit an impasse after they wanted the other side to take the first conciliatory step, the report published by the think tanks called for presidential leadership to overcome the stalemate.

The groups concluded that, more so than South Korea, U.S. decision-making appears to be motivated by the risk of North Korean aggression and duplicity in negotiations. The report also urged Seoul and Washington to strengthen coordination on North Korea policy and other key alliance matters.