Fighting in the Korean War may have ended on July 27, 1953, when the two sides signed an armistice and established the demilitarization zone (DMZ), but the war never ended.
All of that may change next week during a summit between North Korea and South Korea. Reports indicate that South Korean officials aim to sign a peace treaty.
Culture Minister Do Jong-un said the goal of next Friday’s summit is to sign a long-awaited peace treaty. From The Financial Times:
The comments by culture minister Do Jong-whan came as the country’s conservative newspaper Munwha Ilbo said the two Koreas were discussing plans to announce an official end to the military conflict on the peninsula.“A peace treaty should be signed in the inter-Korean summit so that we can build peace and ensure peaceful coexistence,” Mr Do told foreign media. “But it is unclear whether this will be achieved at this summit. If they can’t, they should meet again to sign the treaty.”Citing an unidentified South Korean official on Tuesday, the Munwha Ilbo report said that South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might release a joint statement after their summit next Friday stating they would seek to ease military tension and to end confrontation.
It may not come easy. Seoul wants the two Koreas to sign the treaty, “guaranteed by the US and China with support from Russia and Japan, and later approved by the UN.” Pyongyang thinks the two sides “should sign a non-aggression treaty and a peace treaty should be signed between North Korea and the US.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in hopes that the summit will “lay the foundation for a deal on de-nuclearisation between Washington and Pyongyang at the following summit” between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Moon also said the summit could possibly lead the way to a “three-way summit between the countries.” He acknowledged that without America’s “support and agreement, it will be difficult to follow through on inter-Korean agreements.”
Moon did say that his “ultimate goal” of the summit is to bring peace to the peninsula. From Yonhap news agency:
The goal is “to bring down the wall between the South and the North and build a path to co-existence and joint development,” he said. “Separated families must be allowed to reunite, exchange greetings and freely visit each other.”
South Korean officials may visit North Korea next Wednesday ahead of the summit. They hope they will receive confirmation that the North will commit to denuclearization at this meeting.
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