Will There Be a Declaration of the End of the Korean War?

[soryang]

High among the proposals by North Korea at the recent meeting with Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang was "...realizing multilateral exchanges for improved relations between the DPRK and the U.S., making public a declaration on the end of war first on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement to build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula..."

The most recent South Korean news reports, July 14, and 15, confirmed that the US side, at the Pyongyang meeting, would not accept the North Korean proposal for an announcement in the near future of the end of the Korean conflict, not until measures are taken to denuclearize by North Korea. The US negotiating position was confirmed by a US State Department official, Mark Lambert, Korea section chief, in a Channel A news video clip shown above.

South Korean President Moon Jae In, at the ASEAN conference in Singapore, referred to the which comes first problem, "the chicken or the egg," in relation to the current impasse. This impasse was probably known to the working level negotiators before the meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, in Pyongyang. Trump's statements in Washington DC, in early June on the occasion of meeting with Kim Yong Chol, induced the summit by appearing to accept a reciprocal negotiating process to meet North Korea security concerns when the president publicly discussed the possibility of declaring an end to the Korean conflict on the White House lawn. South Korean reports suggest their representatives will attempt to intermediate the gap between the two sides. It is anticipated that more working level talks will take place in August, with the possibility of a turning point in September. Of course, turning point means it can go either way. Kim apparently has been offered the promise of an appearance and an address at the UN General Assembly in September if he plays ball.