Gabriela Bernal

Opinion | Korean war must formally end to break the dangerous nuclear impasse

The current status quo encourages military build-ups and aggressive posturing while impeding sensible solutions to North Korea’s isolation and economic impoverishment

A peace treaty must be negotiated, and the US must drop its unrealistic requirement for complete and verifiable denuclearisation of North Korea

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Gabriela Bernal

Published: 1:00am, 27 Jul 2023Updated: 1:49am, 27 Jul 2023

This week marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. While many assume this document ended the war on July 27, 1953, it in fact only served to end the fighting. The actual war drags on with no end in sight.

Today, most consider the security situation and the division of the peninsula normal, and the international community seems to have become comfortable with the status quo. Such perceptions, however, come with major risks, since every year that goes by without ending the war results in North Korea continuing to expand its nuclear and missile programmes. Not to mention how the trend of recent military provocations by the two Koreas could result in escalations that trigger the resumption of all-out conflict.

While the US waits for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, the unresolved status of the Korean war fuels tensions between North and South Korea and contributes to the instability of the entire region.

As such, it is imperative for the parties concerned to declare an end to the Korean war and take steps towards signing a legally binding peace treaty. Such a treaty would become a positive condition for improvements on various levels, including security, humanitarian and economic fronts.

In Pyongyang’s eyes, without a peace treaty, the US could attack North Korea at any time. This motivates it to develop and maintain a nuclear weapons programme to safeguard the security of its regime.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons don’t just pose a threat to South Korea or Japan; since they can now reach the US mainland, the threat has become a global problem.