Korean peace deal proposed
SEOUL: South Korea yesterday said it was considering how to change a decadesold armistice with North Korea into a peace agreement, as United States officials confirmed an unprecedented toplevel meeting with the North Korean leader.
United States Secretary of State nominee and CIA Director Mike Pompeo became the most senior US official known to have met North Korean leader Kim Jongun when he visited Pyongyang at the end of March to discuss a planned summit with US President Donald Trump.
Pompeo’s visit provided the strongest sign yet about Trump’s willingness to become the first serving US president ever to meet a North Korean leader.
At the same time, old rivals North Korea and South Korea are preparing for their own summit, between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jaein, on April 27, with a bid to formally end the 195053 Korean War a major factor in talks.
‘‘As one of the plans, we are looking at a possibility of shifting the Korean peninsula’s armistice to a peace regime,’’ a highranking South Korean presidential official said yesterday.
‘‘But that’s not a matter that can be resolved between the two Koreas alone. It requires close consultations with other concerned nations, as well as North Korea,’’ the official said.
South Korea and a USled UN force are technically still at war with North Korea after the Korean War ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.
The USled United Nations Command, Chinese forces and North Korea signed the 1953 armistice, to which South Korea is not a party.
Pompeo’s visit to the North was arranged by South Korean intelligence chief Suh Hoon with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yongchol, and was intended to assess whether Kim was prepared to hold serious talks, a US official said.
Pompeo flew from the US Air Force base in Osan, south of Seoul, an official with the South’s defence ministry said.
CNN reported Chinese President Xi Jinping also plans to visit Pyongyang soon.