War-Ending Declaration Is Part of Peace Treaty
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min-soon said Wednesday that the official end of the 1950-53 Korean War would require political, military and legal conditions to be met.
``We (the two Koreas) are technically at war, and in order to end the war and enter a state of peace, we need a process of ending it,'' Song told a press briefing.
He went on to say, ``The declaration of ending a war always comes at the first stage of peace treaties or other forms of agreement for normalizing relations. It comes out after discussion on how to maintain peace.''
The Korean War ended not with a peace treaty but a cease-fire agreement, which leaves the Korean Peninsula still in a state of war.
The minister stressed that declaring the start of negotiations for peace on the peninsula is a totally different concept from declaring the end of war.
``The declaration of the end of war would be part of peace treaty,'' Song said. ``There is a debate on who should make the declaration and when the declaration should be made, but those things are minor issues.''
President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said the peace treaty should be signed by three or four heads of state during their summit early this month, but recently Roh said the parties concerned would be the two Koreas, the United States and China because China wants to join the process.
Regarding denuclearization of North Korea, Song said that North Korea had agreed to detailed steps to disable its nuclear facilities and that the disablement process is to start soon based on the agreement.
North Korea will receive economic aid and political concessions in return for disabling its nuclear complex in Yongbyon by the end of the year under the six-party talks' accord. The talks involved the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
Song added that the six nations will begin discussing multilateral security dialogue in Northeast Asia and a peace system on the Korean Peninsula, depending on the progress of denuclearization. Song said he shared agendas on this matter with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday.
Song also said in a separate speech that sending Korean troops to U.N. peacekeeping operations (PKO) is important for successful peacekeeping work in the world.
Speaking at the 62nd anniversary ceremony of U.N. Day in Seoul, Song said he is doing his best to help the National Assembly pass a bill to enable a rapid deployment of Korean troops for PKOs.
``Korea has participated in a total of 14 PKOs in the world,'' he said. ``We are now positioned to pay back what we have received from the United Nations and the international community in the past.''
Though he saw defects in the United Nations, he agreed the international organization has established international norms and resolved conflicts based on universal and moral principles.