N.Korea’s Foreign Ministry officially proposes talks for a peace treaty

Posted on : 2010-01-12 12:18 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Experts say it is likely though still unclear whether South Korea will be included in the talks, which may go hand-in-hand with North Korea’s return to six-party talks
 U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Human Rights Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs located in Seoul
U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Human Rights Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs located in Seoul

North Korea has officially proposed talks for a peace treaty. On Monday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issuing a statement saying, “We are officially proposing talks for turning the Korean War truce into peace treaty on the 60th anniversary of Korean War.”

The Foreign Ministry of North Korea’s statement may be interpreted in two ways, meaning that North Korea plans to seek talks for a peace treaty prior to nuclear negotiations or that it is seeking to hold both talks simultaneously.

First, this statement claims that “the order of the act stipulated by the Sept. 19 Joint Statement may be changed” by mentioning that the joint statement contains an article relating to a peace treaty. That is to say, it is an assertion of a separate forum for a permanent peace system on the Korean Peninsula stipulated in the joint statement. However, it is dubious whether North Korea is seeking to hold the talks simultaneously.

It is, however, possible to interpret this to mean that North Korea is linking talks for a peace treaty and resuming six-party talks since it announced, “Six-party talks will resume as soon as the wall built up by sanctions and discrimination has been eliminated.”

In addition, this statement also importantly raises the question of whether South Korea will be included among the parties present for peace treaty talks. South Korean government officials and experts on North Korean issues are interpreting this statement to mean that South Korea will be included in the peace accord. The main reason for this is because North Korea made the proposal in relation to six-party talks in which South Korea currently participates.

The statement issued by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, however, has left this a gray area by using the term “parties related to the Korean War truce accord,” since South Korea is not a party involved in the truce accord. Many experts are interpreting this to mean that North Korea is weighing in the fact that the Lee Myung-bak administration has refused to discuss peace treaty talks. On the other hand, it has also opened the door for peace treaty talks with South Korea since the U.S. cannot accept a proposal that excludes South Korea as a member of the peace treaty. Simultaneously, however, the statement has also put pressure upon South Korea by hinting that if South Korea refuses to participate in peace accord talks, it could be excluded from peace treaty talks.

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