"Govt. Wants to Separate War-Ending Declaration from Peace Treaty"

“A declaration to begin negotiations for a peace treaty and a declaration ending the Korean War are different from each other. The former is a first step to the process of negotiations, while the latter is part of the final negotiation process. However, it is easy to guess why Cheong Wa Dae is using ambiguous expressions,” said a researcher at a Washington think tank.

Cheong Wa Dae’s intention to push ahead with the process of declaring an official end to the war on the pretext of separating the concept of a war-ending declaration from a peace treaty is getting clearer. However, many experts in Washington are dubious whether the U.S. will agree with their intentions.

On October 7, shortly after the 2007 inter-Korean summit, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min-soon hinted, “A declaration ending the Korean War might serve as a declaration to begin peace negotiations for the Korean Peninsula.” Following his address, presidential aide for national security Baek Jong-cheon also said on October 24, “The declaration ending the war is a political and symbolic declaration showing the concerned parties’ will to begin negotiations for a peace treaty.” Baek further stated that he plans to visit the U.S. in person to try to persuade them in mid November.

As for his remark, U.S. experts on the Korean Peninsular said, “The South Korean government seems to want to leave the impression that the agreement made at the inter-Korean summit is making tangible progress.”

On October 25, David Straub, former Korea desk chief at the U.S. State Department, stressed, “It is unlikely that the U.S. will agree to a peace on the Korean peninsula without any progress in North Korea’s denuclearization,” and added, “However, regarding the declaration to begin negotiations for a peace treaty, which the Korean government now has in mind, there is a possibility that U.S. will agree to it next year on the condition of progress made concerning North Korean nuclear issues.”

He explained, “It is hard to imagine that the four heads of state, including President George W. Bush, will gather together to declare a start of negotiations on the peace treaty. However, it is quite probable that a joint statement including those issues will be included.”

On condition of anonymity, a researcher at the think tank interpreted, “It is known that the Roh administration wants to push ahead with producing a tangible outcome within its term of office. However, considering that the declaration ending the Korean War made at the inter- Korean summit will be only likely after many years, Cheong Wa Dae seems to have no other choice than to link the declaration of starting negotiations for the peace treaty with the declaration of ending the war.”

He added, “A peace regime can only be established after signing a peace treaty and normalizing relationships, and is inseparable from a war-ending declaration, like the front and the back side of a coin. A war-ending declaration is sort of a ceremony, which includes a peace treaty.”

According to a diplomatic source, “The Bush administration considers that signing a peace treaty can only be achieved once a clear picture of the overall security regime in Northeast Asia is drawn, and it hopes Korea will only focus on the six-party talks.” However, he forecasted, “In case the Korean government calls for four-way talks to declare the start of negotiations for a peace treaty among ministerial-level groups instead of heads of states, there is a likelihood that U.S. will review the matter positively.”

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