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| U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. Reuters-Yonhap |
By Do Je-hae
South Korea and the U.S. have appeared to be at odds over President Moon Jae-in's proposal for a declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War, made during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
However, key officials in the Donald Trump administration are now starting to assuage the rising concerns about a discrepancy in the two countries' positions, saying the declaration was not a separate issue from the denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the declaration ending the war was a part of the process of denuclearization and called on North Korea to return to negotiations.
"So our position on that set of issues, that suite of issues with respect to the denuclearization of North Korea, a brighter future for the North Korean people, which would obviously include documents that would change the status between North and South Korea. There's been no change in the way the United States thinks about this," Pompeo said during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Wednesday.
"We continue to believe that there is an important, good outcome for global peace and stability and for the North Korean people and we hope we can get back to the table and begin to have those discussions in a serious way that would ultimately lead to what the president of South Korea was speaking to," Pompeo added.
The remarks came after a visit to Washington by President Moon's national security adviser Suh Hoon last week to coordinate responses to bilateral issues and North Korea.
The remarks from Pompeo are seen to suggest that the U.S. agrees with South Korea's position on the declaration as a critical part of the denuclearization process, while there has been speculation that the U.S. would oppose making the declaration before there is progress made in the negotiations. After returning from the U.S., Suh expressed the same sentiment as that offered by Pompeo. "The end-of-war declaration is not a separate issue from denuclearization," Suh said.
The two sides are expected to continue their discussions on the declaration and other issues crucial to the alliance during a visit to Seoul by Suh's counterpart Robert O'Brien next month, sometime after the U.S. presidential election.
Vincent K. Brooks, a former commander of the United States Forces Korea, has also shown a positive stance about considering the declaration, according to the latest reports.
"Now not all agree with this. I acknowledge that this is not widely accepted but I do believe that it is worthy of consideration and worthy of taking some degree of risk," Brooks said during a webinar hosted by the Institute for Corean-American Studies.
Moon has been actively pushing for a declaration ending the war. After the U.N. General Assembly, he mentioned it once again during a speech to the Korea Society earlier this month, despite the negative public sentiment against his pro-engagement policy here following the shooting death of a South Korean official in the North's territorial waters last month.
