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Seoul 'flexible' on timing, format of ending Korean War

TOKYO, June 18 (KUNA) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Monday her government aims to declare a formal end to the Korean War by the end of this year, Yonhap News Agency reported. Kang added that Seoul can be flexible on the specific timing or format of an event. "We are in close consultations with the US on this field. And I know that there was relevant discussion at the North Korea-US summit level," she said at a press conference in Seoul.
US President Donald Trump held bilateral talks with the North's leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore last week, as they produced a four-point joint statement on denuclearization and improved relations between the two sides that had fought each other in the 1950-53 Korean War. The agreement did not address ending the war. The conflict finished in an armistice agreement, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war. Kang described the declaration of an end to the war as the "entrance" to a process to establish a peace regime on the peninsula. "I think China could play a very important role in the overall process, and South Korea will have close consultations with China," she said.
The minister said the government won't be obsessed with a timeline or format, as South Korea will closely monitor the expected high-level talks between the North and the US to follow up on the Singapore accord. U US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was quoted as telling Kang that he will push for the negotiations "quite fast." They had a phone conversation earlier in the day, during which they reaffirmed the importance of the allies maintaining close coordination on next steps. Seoul and Washington share the view that sanctions on the North should remain in place until it takes "substantive" denuclearization measures, according to Kang. (end) mk.lb