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North Korea had for months been pushing for the United States to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which was merely halted with an armistice.
Yet the issue was conspicuously missing from the Pyongyang Declaration signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday (Sept 19) in Pyongyang. Neither leader spoke about it during their joint press conference.
However, their defence chiefs also signed an agreement to reduce tension and halt all hostilities.
This document is tantamount to an end-of-war declaration, experts told The Straits Times.
“By agreeing to certain military threat reduction measures, the two Koreas have already declared an end to the Korean War,” said Professor Kim Jae-chun from Sogang University. “It’s a de facto declaration.”
Prof Kim added that the pact was to signal to the US that South Korea will move along with plans to boost cross-border ties with the North, independent of its key security ally.
The “implicit message” is, he said: “America, it’s up to you whether or not you will follow suit. We’re pretty much on our own now. Denuclearisation is up to you, but don’t be too hard on North Korea because they have their own worries about regime survival.”
In North Korea’s eyes, an end-of-war declaration is a security guarantee given by the US in return for it giving up its nuclear programme. Until then, the regime still needs its nuclear weapons to guard against an American attack, experts say.
The two Koreas first agreed to ink an end-of-war declaration when their leaders met in April. It was later revealed that they hope to do so by the end of this year.
Dr Lee Seong-hyon, director of unification strategy at the Sejong Institute think-tank, said both Koreas initially expected the declaration to come from Mr Trump and Mr Kim, who held their first summit in Singapore in June.
“They waited and waited, until they could not wait anymore. So the South Korea is trying to do what it can on its own to improve the situation,” he said.
Dr Lee said while Washington’s priority is to eliminate the North’s nuclear threat, Seoul is more focused on establishing a peace regime. Denuclearisation is a process towards achieving peace, not an end goal in itself, he added.
“Moon said we are the starting a new peace era on the Korean peninsula, without war. So in that sense, the two Koreas have made very important progress,” he said.
South Korea’s Blue House press secretary Yoon Young-chan confirmed at a media briefing in Seoul that the military pact was a “de facto termination of war”.
“We will move past the 65-year truce and embark on a peace process leading to co-prosperity,” he said.
Addressing concerns that the pact was signed in haste, Blue House peace and arms control secretary Choi Jong-geon said defence officials from both sides had met thrice for lengthy discussions and exchanged documents eight times before they came to an agreement.
He also emphasised that the deal was made in close consultation with both the US and United Nations Command, with careful consideration to avoid any discord.
Under the pact, the two Koreas agree to disarm the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarised Zone on their border by November, remove land mines, withdraw border guard posts, and halt drills near the military demarcation line separating the two sides. They will also set up land, air and sea buffer zones to avoid accidental clashes.
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