Sunday May 11, 2025
HE
NEWSLETTER
www.israelhayom.com
  • Home
  • News
    • Gaza War
    • US Election Coverage
    • Middle East
    • Cyber & Internet
    • Business & Finance
  • Opinions
  • Jewish World
    • Archaeology
    • Antisemitism
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Culture
  • Magazine
    • Feature
    • Analysis
    • Explainer
  • In Memoriam
www.israelhayom.com
  • Home
  • News
    • Gaza War
    • US Election Coverage
    • Middle East
    • Cyber & Internet
    • Business & Finance
  • Opinions
  • Jewish World
    • Archaeology
    • Antisemitism
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Culture
  • Magazine
    • Feature
    • Analysis
    • Explainer
  • In Memoriam
www.israelhayom.com
Home News World News

Decades on, N. Korea still hesitant to declare Korean War over

Formal declaration of end to 1950-1953 war has become entangled in US demand that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons.

by  Reuters and ILH Staff
Published on  09-24-2021 09:54
Last modified: 09-24-2021 09:55
North Korea's Kim looking to hit restart with Biden, but he'll have to take a numberAP via the Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the ruling party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 8, 2021 | File photo: AP via the Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

South Korea's call for a formal end to the Korean War is premature but the door for dialogue is open if it scraps its double standards and hostile policy, a senior North Korean official said in comments published by state media on Friday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice not a peace treaty, leaving US-led UN forces technically still at war with North Korea. The question of formally ending the war has become caught up in a US-led effort to get North Korea to give up it nuclear weapons.

South Korea President Moon Jae-in repeated a call for a formal end to the war in an address to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

Senior North Korean official Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said Moon's proposal was "interesting and admirable" but conditions were not right because of South Korea's persistent double standards, prejudice and hostility.

"Under such a situation it does not make any sense to declare the end of the war with all the things, which may become a seed of a war between parties that have been at odds for more than half a century, left intact," Kim said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

South Korea should change its attitude and foster the conditions for a meaningful discussion on ways to end the conflict and improve ties, she said.

"What needs to be dropped is the double-dealing attitudes, illogical prejudice, bad habits and hostile stand of justifying their own acts while faulting our just exercise of the right to self-defense," Kim said.

"Only when such a precondition is met, would it be possible to sit face to face and declare the significant termination of war and discuss the issue of the north-south relations and the future of the Korean peninsula."

North Korea has for decades been seeking an end to the war but the United States has been reluctant to agree unless North Korea gave up its nuclear weapons.

Expectations were raised that a declaration on ending the war, even if not an actual treaty, would be made during a historic summit between then-US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore in 2018.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

But that possibility, and the momentum on talks that those two leaders generated over three meetings, came to nothing. Talks have been stalled since 2019.

Moon, a liberal who has made improving ties with North Korea a priority, sees ending the war as a way to nudge forward the effort to press North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals in return for US sanctions relief.

But his call looks unlikely to break the deadlock.

He said on Friday he was confident North Korea would eventually see it was in its interests to reopen dialogue with the United States but he was not certain if that would come before his term ends next year.

"It seems that North Korea is still weighing options while keeping the door open for talks, since it is only raising tension at a low level, just enough for the US to not break off all contact," he told reporters on his way home from New York.

US President Joe Biden said in his own UN address that he wanted "sustained diplomacy" to resolve the crisis surrounding North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea has rejected US overtures to engage in dialogue and the head of the UN atomic watchdog said this week that its nuclear program was going "full steam ahead."

North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae Song said on KCNA earlier that the United States should withdraw its "double-standards and hostile policy" to break the deadlock.

Tags: dictatorKim Jong IlKorean WarM*A*S*HNorth Korea

Related Posts

Trump offers 30-day Ukraine-Russia unconditional ceasefireAP/Aurelien Morissard, left and center, Pavel Bednyakov, right

Trump offers 30-day Ukraine-Russia unconditional ceasefire

by Miri Weissman

Trump threatened, "If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions."

No normalization: Bin Salman accelerates nuclear projectAFP, AP, Reuters, Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Israel believes Trump lacks Senate support for Saudi nuclear deal without Israeli involvement

by Shirit Avitan Cohen

An Israeli official claims that President Donald Trump does not have the necessary support in the Senate to advance a...

Trump's Iran negotiationsSaul Loeb/AFP

Trump sidelines Netanyahu in Middle East policy as relations deteriorate

by Ariel Kahana

Sources report the president is frustrated over the Israeli prime minister's alleged push for Iran military action.

Menu

Analysis 

Archaeology

Blogpost

Business & Finance

Culture

Exclusive

Explainer

Environment

 

Features

Health

In Brief

Jewish World

Judea and Samaria

Lifestyle

Cyber & Internet

Sports

 

Diplomacy 

Iran & The Gulf

Gaza Strip

Politics

Shopping

Terms of use

Privacy Policy

Submissions

Contact Us

About Us

The first issue of Israel Hayom appeared on July 30, 2007. Israel Hayom was founded on the belief that the Israeli public deserves better, more balanced and more accurate journalism. Journalism that speaks, not shouts. Journalism of a different kind. And free of charge.

All rights reserved to Israel Hayom

Hosted by sPD.co.il

  • Home
  • News
    • Gaza War
    • US Election Coverage
    • Middle East
    • Cyber & Internet
    • Business & Finance
    • Sports
  • Opinions
  • Jewish World
    • Archaeology
    • Antisemitism
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Culture
  • Magazine
    • Feature
    • Analysis
    • Explainer
    • Environment & Wildlife
    • Health & Wellness
  • In Memoriam
  • Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Submit your opinion
  • Terms and conditions

All rights reserved to Israel Hayom

Hosted by sPD.co.il

Newsletter

[contact-form-7 id=”508379″ html_id=”isrh_form_Newsletter_en” title=”newsletter_subscribe”]

  • Home
  • News
    • Gaza War
    • US Election Coverage
    • Middle East
    • Cyber & Internet
    • Business & Finance
    • Sports
  • Opinions
  • Jewish World
    • Archaeology
    • Antisemitism
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Culture
  • Magazine
    • Feature
    • Analysis
    • Explainer
    • Environment & Wildlife
    • Health & Wellness
  • In Memoriam
  • Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Submit your opinion
  • Terms and conditions

All rights reserved to Israel Hayom

Hosted by sPD.co.il