South Korea seeking end to armistice, establish permanent peace

South Korea is seeking to end an armistice left by the 1950-53 Korean War and build a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul's unification ministry said Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday extended his "blessing" to the Koreas, which appear to be discussing a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War when their leaders meet for a summit next Friday.

"The two Koreas discussed the issue of ending the armistice at a summit in October 2007," Baik Tae-hyun, a ministry spokesman, told a press briefing. "The government is making efforts to declare an end to the war and set up a permanent peace regime."

A joint declaration adopted after the 2007 summit stipulated that South and North Korea both recognize the need to end the current armistice regime and build a permanent peace regime.

"The South and the North have also agreed to work together to advance the matter of having the leaders of the three or four parties directly concerned to convene on the Peninsula and declare an end to the war," the declaration says.

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Meanwhile, he said that Seoul and Washington are in close discussion over the summit, when asked whether the South was aware of Mike Pompeo's recent visit to North Korea. Pompeo is the new United States secretary of state nominee.

Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, made the trip as an envoy of Trump over Easter weekend to discuss the planned Trump-Kim summit, following his nomination, The Washington Post reported.

"The South and the U.S. are in close consultation over the summit. Discussions between the U.S. and North Korea are also reportedly underway," Baik said, declining to elaborate. (Yonhap)