President calls for replacing seven-decade armistice with permanent peace regime and says dialogue could also address Pyongyang’s advancing nuclear programme
SEOUL — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday proposed direct talks with North Korea aimed at formally ending the Korean War, calling for the armistice that has governed the divided peninsula for more than seven decades to be replaced with a permanent peace arrangement.
Lee made the proposal during a speech marking the 81st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, saying Seoul wanted the two Koreas to move away from confrontation and begin discussions as the parties directly involved in the unresolved conflict.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, meaning North and South Korea technically remain at war.
Lee said negotiations on ending the conflict could also provide an opening to discuss measures aimed at halting further advances in North Korea's nuclear capabilities.
“Let us put down our intentions to threaten each other and begin discussions to end the long-running war as the directly involved parties,” Lee said, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
He said Seoul would pursue proactive and sustained measures to ease military tensions and establish safeguards designed to prevent confrontations from escalating into a wider conflict.
The proposal marks one of Lee's clearest attempts to revive inter-Korean diplomacy since taking office last year, building on his pledge to respect North Korea's political system and pursue peaceful coexistence rather than forced unification.
But there was no immediate indication that Pyongyang was prepared to accept the offer.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has abandoned his government's longstanding goal of peaceful reunification with the South and designated South Korea as a hostile state, while Pyongyang has continued expanding its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
North Korea has also strengthened its political and military relationship with Russia and has repeatedly rejected Seoul's recent attempts at engagement.
The timing of Lee's proposal is particularly sensitive.
South Korea and the United States are scheduled to begin their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises on August 17, involving about 18,000 South Korean troops and training designed to respond to threats including drones, cyberattacks and GPS jamming.
North Korea has condemned the exercises as a provocation and warned it would strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response. Seoul and Washington say the drills are defensive.
Pyongyang has also carried out renewed ballistic missile activity ahead of the exercises, including a launch from the Wonsan area this week that South Korea said travelled more than 700 km before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Lee's proposal therefore combines two of the most difficult issues on the peninsula: formally ending the Korean War and preventing further expansion of North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Previous attempts have failed to produce a permanent settlement.
In the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim agreed to pursue efforts toward formally ending the war and establishing a peace regime.
Momentum later collapsed as nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States broke down.
A crucial turning point came at the 2019 Hanoi summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, which ended without agreement because of differences over sanctions relief and North Korean denuclearisation.
North Korea has since significantly expanded its weapons capabilities and increasingly portrays its nuclear status as irreversible.
Any attempt to replace the 1953 armistice would also extend beyond Seoul and Pyongyang.
The original agreement was signed by military representatives of North Korea, China and the U.S.-led United Nations Command. South Korea itself did not sign it, complicating the legal and diplomatic path toward a formal peace settlement.
Lee nevertheless presented renewed dialogue as necessary to prevent another cycle of military escalation.
His government has taken several steps intended to reduce tensions since coming to power, while maintaining South Korea's security alliance with the United States.
The latest proposal signals that Seoul wants to pursue deterrence and diplomacy simultaneously: maintaining military readiness with Washington while attempting to reopen a political channel with Pyongyang.
Whether that strategy produces talks will largely depend on North Korea.
Pyongyang has so far shown little willingness to reverse its increasingly confrontational approach toward Seoul, and its latest criticism of U.S.-South Korean military exercises suggests that the immediate environment for negotiations remains difficult.
But Lee's Liberation Day address puts a formal peace settlement back on Seoul's diplomatic agenda — more than 73 years after fighting on the Korean Peninsula stopped without the war itself ever officially ending.