End of Korean War agreed to in principle – Moon

SOUTH KOREA: South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that China, North Korea and the United States have agreed in principle to the declaration putting an end to the Korean War.

“Australia has also supported the end of war declaration proposal by the Korean government and the relevant parties to this declaration. It would be the United States, China and Republic of Korea and North Korea. And I believe, in principle, everybody agrees to the declaration,” Moon said during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison after bilateral talks in Canberra.

Moon also said that the declaration should establish a peace regime in the Korean Peninsula and put an end to the “quite unstable” armistice, stressing that it was important to initiate talks between North and South Korea and between the US and North Korea. The Korean War de facto ended in 1953 after the US and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ratified an armistice without signing a peace treaty.

The war began with an incursion across the 38th parallel, the boundary between North and South Korea, by 75,000 troops from the Communist North in June 1950.

American troops supporting the South joined the war in the following months and the North Koreans, supported by China and the USSR, were pushed back.

A bloody stalemate ensued and an armistice was signed between the US and North Korea in July 1953. Five million troops and civilians lost their lives in the conflict.

– THE HINDUSTAN TIMES