Trump-kim summit may declare end to Korean war
HISTORIC? US had resisted the idea as it questions presence of 28,500 troops in peninsula
HANOI: President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might declare a formal end to the Korean War during their summit this week, South Korea said, as the US leader played down the prospects of giving Pyongyang sanctions relief.
The two leaders could reach an agreement on how to resolve the 1950-53 conflict as part of their meeting scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi, South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui Keum told reporters on Monday. A peace declaration would be the first step toward a treaty to replace the ceasefire among the Us-led United Nations forces, North Korea and China.
“I believe the possibility is open,” the presidential spokesman said in Seoul. “There is no way of knowing what kind of a declaration it might be, but I believe the US and North Korea may reach an agreement on the declaration of war’s end at any degree.”
While North Korea has long sought a peace declaration, the US has balked at the demand, which could undercut the rationale for keeping some 28,500 troops on the peninsula. Speculation that Trump might be warming to such a statement increased after he pledged to cease “endless wars” in his State of the Union speech this month and the US’S top negotiator said the president was “ready to end this war. It is over. It is done”. It remains to be seen what Trump could gain from making such a concession in his second meeting with Kim. North Korea has made no concrete commitments to give up its nuclear weapons programme since the two leaders agreed in June to “work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” without defining the term or agreeing to a timetable.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday he hoped the summit would provide a “real beginning” to the negotiations.
“If Trump succeeds in ending the last piece of the Cold War system, it will leave a great accomplishment that will be marked in world history,” Moon said.