NKorea wants US to declare end of war as first step

WASHINGTON — North Korea is insisting that the United States declare that the Korean War is over before providing a detailed, written disclosure of all its atomic-weapons stockpiles, its nuclear production facilities and its missiles as a first major step toward denuclearization.

Two months after President Donald Trump declared his summit in Singapore with Kim Jong Un a complete success, North Korea has not yet even agreed to provide that list during private exchanges with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, according to U.S. and South Korean officials familiar with the talks.

Pompeo maintains that progress is being made, although he has provided no details. But John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, said last week: “North Korea has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize.”

On Thursday, North Korea’s state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, called the declaration of the end of the war “the demand of our time” and said it would be the “first process” in moving toward a fulfillment of the June 12 deal struck between Trump and Kim. Pyongyang also wants peace-treaty talks to begin before detailing its arsenal.

Officials said South Korea has quietly backed the North Korean position, betting that once Trump has issued a “peace declaration,” it would be harder for him to later threaten military action if the North fails to disarm or discard its nuclear arsenal.

Against North Korea’s continuing nuclear buildup — and its threats to strike the United States — Washington has long refused to formally declare the end of the war, which was halted with a 1953 armistice but never officially brought to a close.

And fears remain that making concessions to Pyongyang — especially after Trump shelved annual U.S. military exercises with South Korea that he called “war games,” the phrase used by the North — would outrage Republicans in Congress and open Trump to charges that he has been outmaneuvered by Kim.