Khaberni - The Ministry of Unification in South Korea announced that it will seek a "peace declaration" that aims to express the political will to end the Korean War, in an attempt to move from the current armistice to a peace regime.
The ministry revealed the plan in a report submitted to the National Assembly, at a time when President Lee Jae-myung pledged to make vigorous efforts to turn the armistice into a peace regime to ease tensions between the two Koreas during his speech on the occasion of the 107th anniversary of the Independence Movement on March 1st.
The ministry said in the report submitted to the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of Parliament: "The government will seek to issue a 'peace declaration' that reflects the political will to end the Korean War and begin discussions to establish a peace regime, including the signing of a peace treaty."
Technically, the two Koreas are still at war, as the Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
The ministry said that the peace declaration is a multilateral political declaration that will involve South Korea and the signatories to the armistice agreement, namely the United States, North Korea, and China, to express the will to end the war.
It will be similar to the formal declaration to end the war that was sought by the administration of former President Moon Jae-in (2017-2022).
Moon had sought a declaration to end the war as a starting point for initiating the denuclearization process in North Korea and achieving lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. However, his initiative largely failed after the "Hanoi" summit in 2019 between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump ended without an agreement.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Unification said that North Korea is expected to take follow-up actions to the main party congress held last month on the occasion of the annual spring joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington and the launch of the 15th session of the Supreme People's Assembly in North Korea.
The government said that North Korea is likely to issue statements condemning South Korea and take military actions, as Seoul and Washington will conduct "Freedom Shield" drills from March 9 to 19.
It is expected that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be re-elected as chairman of the State Affairs Commission at a parliamentary meeting, following the launch of the 15th session of the Supreme People's Assembly, according to the ministry.
