Amid rising regional tensions, South Korea has formally proposed to the DPRK that direct talks begin to replace the 1953 armistice with a permanent peace treaty.
The historic call was made by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung during his official speech marking the 81st anniversary of Korean Liberation Day.
“The system of peaceful coexistence must be stable and devoid of reasons for confrontation“, the South Korean head of state was quoted as saying by Yonhap News. Lee Jae-myung stressed that Seoul is ready to hold talks with Pyongyang without preconditions. The main goal of his administration is to build multi-level security mechanisms to prevent escalation on the Korean Peninsula and limit the growth of North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
End of the frozen conflict between Seoul and Pyongyang
The two Korean countries have been formally in a state of war since the conflict in 1950-1953. At that time, hostilities were suspended only with an armistice agreement along the 38th parallel, but without an officially signed peace treaty.
According to analyses published by BBC News, center-left President Lee Jae-myung, who took power after the impeachment of his right-wing predecessor Yun Seok-yeol, is trying to radically change the country's foreign policy. In July, the Ministry of Unification in Seoul announced that it was abandoning the long-standing requirement that the DPRK completely destroy its nuclear weapons as a starting condition for dialogue. The new strategy aims to freeze further expansion of nuclear capacity in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives.
Kim Jong-un and the shadow of Moscow
To date, Pyongyang has not yet officially responded to Seoul's proposal. International observers, quoted by RBC-Ukraine, note that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is less and less interested in stabilizing relations with the West. The reason for this is the increased military-technical cooperation between Russia and the DPRK. Pyongyang receives food, fuel and advanced military technology from Moscow in exchange for large-scale deliveries of shells and missiles to the Russian army.
In addition, the DPRK has already changed its constitution, deleting all texts about the possible peaceful unification of the peninsula, and officially declared South Korea the “most hostile state“. The situation remains highly explosive, as Pyongyang has already threatened retaliatory strikes due to the upcoming large-scale joint military exercises between the US and South Korea “Ulchi Freedom Shield”, which begin on Monday, August 17.