South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that the two Koreas had agreed to officially end the Korean war after seven decades.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison are at a ceremony.
The pool is via a photo.
Moon conceded that the issue was being held back by North Korea because of the U.S. hostility against it.
The parties have not been able to negotiate on the declaration because of this precondition.
The seven-decade long armistice between the two nations is not stable and a formal peace declaration could open the door for talks with North Korea on its nuclear weapons program.
The leader of South Korea spoke about this development while in Australia, where he is on a four-day official visit.
Moon told the press in Australia that his government was not considering a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The global sporting event, which is scheduled to start in February, is facing a growing diplomatic boycott by several western nations who have accused China of engaging in large scale human rights violations. The U.S., U.K, Canada and Australia have all said they will not send any official representation to the event. According to ABC News, Moon is hoping to use the Beijing games as a way of opening up possible summit-level talks with North Korea. The report says that Kim and other top Korean leaders may attend the winter games.
The key background.
In September, North Korean officials resoundingly rejected Moon's calls for an official declaration to the end of the war by calling it a smokescreen to cover up hostile U.S. policy against Pyongyang. The Vice Foreign Minister of North Korea said at the time that a declaration would not help calm tensions. The Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The two nations have been in a state of war for more than 70 years.
The Korean War end-of-war declaration was agreed in principle.
The U.S., China, and N. Korea agree on the end-of-war declaration, according to Moon.
Moon says S. Korea isn't considering boycotting the Beijing Olympics.
