South Korea proposes talks with North Korea to formally end the war
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has called for talks with North Korea to formally end their decades-long war and curb Pyongyang's nuclear program. North Korea has not yet responded to the proposal.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung used a Liberation Day ceremony to urge North Korea, as the directly involved party, to begin talks aimed at formally ending the war that has technically continued since the 1953 armistice. He called for both sides to stop threatening each other and to discuss ways of easing tensions along the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
Lee proposed building a so-called multi-layered security system to prevent escalations at the de facto border, and suggested discussing practical steps toward halting North Korea's nuclear weapons program. He said such a dialogue format could also become a venue for finding realistic ways to curb the North's nuclear output.
Decades of tension
The conflict between the two Korean states has effectively been frozen since the armistice, but clashes and mutual accusations of provocation — including balloon launches carrying trash and propaganda — have persisted along the border for decades. North Korea declared itself a nuclear state in 2022 and has said it will never give up its nuclear weapons.
Lee, who became president last year after his predecessor Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office over an attempted martial law declaration, has since sought to improve ties with Pyongyang and its ally China, relations that had deteriorated under Yoon. Lee has previously voiced support for a possible agreement between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to freeze nuclear weapons production, while South Korea continues pushing toward full denuclearization.
North Korea has not officially responded to the new proposal; its state news agency reported only on Kim Jong Un's attendance at the North's own Liberation Day event. Pyongyang has previously rejected Lee's calls for dialogue, criticizing a US-South Korea agreement on nuclear submarines and joint military drills. On Tuesday, North Korea carried out its eleventh suspected ballistic missile test of the year, days before planned US-South Korea joint exercises.
