Treaty to formally end Korean War is being discussed, South confirms
Seoul: South Korea has confirmed that it has been in talks with both American and North Korean officials about negotiating a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War after more than 60 years, as the United States and its ally try to establish a basis for persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons.
Chung Eui-yong, the national security adviser to President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, said he had discussed the matter with John Bolton, his newly appointed American counterpart, in Washington last week, as they prepared for the planned talks between each of their countries' presidents and Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader. South Korean officials said they had also been in talks with the North about a possible treaty.
Kim told Chung and another South Korean official last month that the North was willing to give up nuclear arms if it received security guarantees. In the past, the North has said that a peace treaty and the normalisation of ties with the United States would be among the security guarantees it would require in exchange for surrendering its nuclear program.
Referring to his meetings with Trump administration officials, Chung said on Wednesday: "We held in-depth discussions on various ways of how to end hostilities and eventually establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, how to address the North Korean concerns, and how to ensure a bright future for the North if it makes the right choice."
"Mr Bolton made it clear to me that he will do his best as an honest broker in successfully implementing President Trump's peace policy on the Korean Peninsula," Chung added.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a peace treaty was being discussed and that he approved of the idea. The President, who confirmed that he had sent Mike Pompeo, the CIA director, to meet with Kim, has said he would meet with the North Korean leader in May or early June, after Kim's April 27 talks with South Korea's president, Moon, on the Koreas' border.
Treaty Would Have to Involve US and China
The Korean War was halted in 1953 with a truce and has never been formally brought to a close. China fought on the North's side and the United States on the South's, and both are signatories to the armistice, along with the North; South Korea, at the time, refused to sign it. Any peace treaty would therefore have to involve Washington and Beijing, South Korean officials acknowledged.
China said on Wednesday that it wanted to play a positive role in formally ending the war, in which an estimated 3 million Chinese soldiers fought. But it stopped short of endorsing the idea of a treaty, which is likely to involve extensive negotiations and would require the recognition of North Korea by the United States.
"China's attitude is open and supportive to any peaceful means to resolve the Korean Peninsula issue through consultations," Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said.
China has promoted the idea of a peace treaty from time to time over the past two decades, to little avail. This time, analysts said on Wednesday, Beijing's enthusiasm for the idea is likely to be tempered by rising tensions with the Trump administration over trade and Taiwan. Chinese officials are livid over Washington's move this week to prevent US suppliers from selling parts to the Chinese tech giant ZTE, they said.
"If the two countries cannot settle the trade issues, that will have a significant impact on China's attitude toward helping the United States on North Korea," said Cheng Xiaohe, a North Korea expert at the Beijing-based Renmin University. "The ongoing situation with trade is complicating and undermining cooperation."
At the same time, Cheng said, China's relations with North Korea have rapidly warmed in the wake of Kim's surprise visit to Beijing last month. That could give China leverage with North Korea against the United States as Washington works out the terms of the meeting between Trump and Kim.
South Korean officials said on Wednesday that they hoped Kim and Moon, during their meeting next week, could jointly announce a willingness to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula and ban military hostilities there, as a precursor to a peace treaty.
But Cheng and other Chinese analysts expressed skepticism that a peace treaty would be signed anytime soon. "If the United States is to sign with North Korea, it needs to do several things," Cheng said. "It has to talk to China, and the United States has to recognise North Korea diplomatically."
Only countries with diplomatic relations can sign a treaty, he said. "A treaty is not a memorandum or a communiqué."
New York Times