South and North Korea, China and the US have agreed “in principle” to declare a formal end to the Korean war, almost 70 years after the conflict ended in a shaky truce, the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has said. But he added that North Korea had made an end to US hostility a precondition for talks. “And because of that, we are not able to sit down for a negotiation on the declarations between South and North Korea, and those between North Korea and United States,” he said at a press conference with the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison. “North Korea has been seemingly showing a more open manner towards dialogue than before,” Lee said, according to the Yonhap news agency. Opinion in South Korea and the US is divided over the wisdom of signing a formal peace treaty while North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of UN sanctions.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 13, 2021 17:41 UTC