Sung Kim Says U.S. is Considering End of Korean War Declaration with North Korea
It looks like the Biden administration may be entertaining the idea of pursuing and end of the Korean War declaration with North Korea:
The U.S. special representative for North Korea said Sunday that he looks forward to continuing exploring different options with South Korea to resume dialogue with North Korea, including the proposed declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.
Sung Kim also reiterated Washington’s willingness to help address the North’s humanitarian concerns for its people in need, while urging Pyongyang to stop missile launches, which he cast as “concerning and counterproductive.”
Kim made the remarks soon after he held talks with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, to discuss joint efforts to resume stalled nuclear diplomacy.
“I look forward to continuing to work with special representative Noh to explore different ideas and initiatives, including the ROK’s end-of-war proposal as we continue to pursue our shared objectives on the peninsula,” Kim said, referring to South Korea’s official name, Republic of Korea.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but that didn’t take long for the State Department to change their tune. The Kim regime launches a few missiles and State is now considering the end of war declaration. I guess we will see if they are actually serious about this or not. I would think Sung Kim is smart enough to realize why the North Koreans want the end of war declaration so badly.
The rhetoric for ending the Korean War has been going on for years because both the Moon administration and the Kim regime in North Korea want the peace treaty because it then challenges the legitimacy of the U.S. military presence in South Korea. If there is peace why is USFK needed? The Korean left and the Kim regime have always wanted the U.S. out of Korea and a peace treaty with little to nothing in return from North Korea is one path towards doing that.
The real question is if the Biden administration is going to take the bait on this or not? With all the bad headlines they may be eager for something that looks like a foreign policy victory by pursuing such a declaration. I guess we will see what happens.
