End to Korean War needs Chinese backing: expert
To declare the end of the Korean War is in the interest of all parties, but its significance would be “discounted” without China’s participation, a Chinese expert said ahead of the 65th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement on Friday.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou met Ri Yong-ho, foreign minister of North Korea, and held talks on relations as well as the situation on the peninsula, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
China supports North Korea and the US implementing an agreement reached by leaders of the two countries, and also supports the two Koreas cooperating through compromise in order to move the process forward regarding denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and constructing a peace mechanism, Kong said.
Ri Yong-ho said that North Korea would like to strengthen communication and cooperation with China, and commit to implementing the agreement reached with party concerned under the new situation of the peninsula.
“A declaration of the end of the Korean War is promising with China’s participation and is in the interest of all parties,” Lü Chao, a research fellow on North Korea at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
“China has the responsibility to join the declaration as a country that assumes many international obligations,” Lü said. The significance of the declaration “would be discounted without China’s participation and it would also be considered unpromising by the world,” Lü said.
“Ending the warring state on the Korean Peninsula and replacing the armistice with a peace treaty are an important part of the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and the shared aspiration of the international community,” Geng Shuang, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a daily press conference on Wednesday.
Signs and slogans reportedly appeared in Pyongyang ahead of the anniversary calling for economic independence, Japan-based Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday.
The Korean Armistice Agreement, which halted the three-year Korean War, was signed on July 27, 1953 by China, North Korea and the United Nations Command.