South Korea proposes talks to formally end Korean War
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- Lee Jae Myung proposed talks with North Korea to officially end the Korean War — technically active since the 1953 armistice — in a Liberation Day speech marking the peninsula's liberation from Japanese rule.
- Lee suggested a "multi-layered security system" to prevent flare-ups along the DMZ and offered to discuss "effective ways to halt the advancement of the North's nuclear capabilities."
- North Korea has yet to respond to the offer; Pyongyang has previously rebuffed Lee's engagement efforts, criticizing a deal for the US to build South Korea nuclear-powered submarines and denouncing joint US-South Korea drills.
- Kim Jong Un declared unification with the South impossible in January 2024, ordering the constitution amended to designate South Korea as a "primary foe and invariable principal enemy."
- North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2022 and is estimated to possess dozens of warheads, producing 15-20 more per year according to Lee's earlier remarks to the BBC.
- North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Tuesday — its 11th suspected test this year — just days before a scheduled US-South Korean joint military exercise.
Why it matters: Lee's overture collides with a hardened constitutional stance from Pyongyang: Kim Jong Un formally abandoned unification in 2024 and codified South Korea as the regime's principal enemy. Without a reversal from Kim, the proposal remains aspirational, and the imminent US-South Korea joint exercises give Pyongyang a ready pretext to dismiss it.
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