By Yoon Won-sup and Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporters
The joint declaration by the two Korean leaders Thursday, may have set the stage for bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula, the Cold War's last frontier.
President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said in the declaration that the two Koreas will work on officially ending the 1950-53 Korean War and replacing the current armistice with a permanent peace regime to be signed by the parties to the Korean truce.
The landmark pact came a day after the North signed up to an international deal to disable its nuclear facilities by the end of this year.
``The South and North will closely cooperate in order to terminate military hostilities, ease tension and ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula,'' said the declaration. ``The South and North oppose any form of war on the Korean Peninsula and firmly comply with the obligations of non-aggression.''
The declaration highlighted the two Koreas' commitment to building a permanent peace regime after declaring an end to the Korean War. It called for holding ``a three or four-party summit of directly related sides,'' involving the two Koreas, the United States and China.
The armistice was signed at the end of the Korean War by the U.S.-led United Nations, China and North Korea.
South Korea was not a party to the ceasefire treaty, but participating countries at the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons program agreed in September 2005 that the establishment of a peace regime on the peninsula should be discussed and agreed upon by the six nations.
The six-party talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
The issue of Korean peace talks gained momentum last month when U.S. President George W. Bush expressed his willingness to sign a peace treaty with the North on the condition that the Stalinist state pushed through with full denuclearization in a meeting with President Roh on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Australia.
Professor Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University in Seoul called the declaration a big step toward achieving peace and prosperity on the peninsula.
``It is expected to lay the groundwork for reducing cross-border tensions and putting an end to the Cold War-era conflict on the peninsula,'' Koh told The Korea Times.
Professor Yoo Ho-yeol at Korea University in Seoul, however, said the agreement was just symbolic and ambiguous, not realistic.
``The agreement should have been more specific to be realistic, like the two Koreas initiate talks on a peace regime, and the United States and China guarantee it,'' Yoo said. ``Because of the pact, South Korea could lose the initiative in future peace talks.''
Victor Cha, a former director of the U.S. National Security Council for Asian affairs, said in a forum in Daejeon last month that it was a bad idea for Roh to propose a peace declaration to the North because it meant the South Korean government recognized North Korea as a nuclear-weapons state, something no other country has done.