By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The country's spy chief said Wednesday a declaration to formally end the Korean War (1950-53) should be made before a peace regime is established on the Korean Peninsula.
Kim Man-bok, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), said in an article posted on a government website that the declaration will help build confidence between the parties toward creating a permanent peace mechanism on the peninsula.
``We can consider making a declaration of putting an end to the Korean War as a pre-step toward setting up and maintaining a peace regime on the peninsula, given distrust between the United States and North Korea, and South and North Korea still lingers,'' he said.
Kim referred to Camp David accords forged between Israel and Egypt at the U.S. presidential retreat as a model. Under the pact, signed by then Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, the two countries agreed to stop war and signed a peace treaty within three months.
As for debates over who will participate in negotiations over a peace treaty, Kim said China should be allowed to participate in the peace talks involving a war-ending declaration, given it was a party to the armistice agreement on the peninsula at the end of the Korean War.
The truce, signed by the U.S.-led United Nations Command, North Korea and China, was never a permanent peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.
South Korea was not a party to the ceasefire treaty, but a multilateral declaration issued at the end of six-nation nuclear talks in 2005 called for Seoul's participation in future peace talks with five other countries _ the United States, China, Japan, North Korea and Russia.
Since the leaders of the two Koreas pledged joint efforts to establish a peace regime on the peninsula during their summit early October, a controversy has arisen over how and when nations concerned should begin talks on a Korean peace treaty, and who will be the main players for the talks.
President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean Kim Jong-il agreed in a joint declaration to arrange a three or four-way talks to end the war. South Korean officials said China could be excluded. But a senior North Korean official later said South Korea could be excluded.
On the other hand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Song Min-soon has said it is too early to discuss a war-ending declaration, which he expected could be made when North Korea goes through full denulclearization.
``Right now, our top priority is only the advancement in the denuclearization process, but some people seem to be focusing on what is coming next. It is too early to do so,'' Song said last month.
The United States also opposes Seoul's ``hasty'' move to a war-ending declaration.
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow has made it clear that his nation is opposed to declaring an end to the war until North Korea dismantle all of its nuclear weapons programs in a complete and verifiable manner.