South Korean President Lee Jae-yong has proposed starting negotiations with North Korea to officially end the state of war on the Korean Peninsula, which has lasted for more than seven decades.
Speaking during a speech to mark Liberation Day, Lee urged both nations to sit at the negotiating table as direct parties to the conflict and agree on a peace deal, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Lee stressed that the two countries remain legally at war because fighting in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 ended with a truce armistice rather than a peace treaty. He said that the time had come to end the state of war on the peninsula.
The call for talks comes despite Pyongyang failing to respond to previous proposals sent by Seoul since Lee took office.
Guarantees against annexation
The South Korean president stated that his country respects North Korea's current status and is not seeking unification through annexation. He also assured that Seoul has no intention of conducting hostile actions against the North Korean regime.
South Korea's prime minister also called on both states to respect one another and abandon unnecessary confrontation. Proposed measures include reducing hostility across policy, norms, and institutions.
In addition, Seoul advocated establishing a multi-level security system to control tension between the two sides and prevent new crises from arising.
A heavily militarised peninsula
The Korean War began in 1950 and hostilities ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty, leaving North and South Korea formally in a state of war ever since.
Following the end of active fighting, high political and military tension has persisted between the two countries, leaving the Korean Peninsula as one of the most heavily militarised regions in the world. Liberation Day is celebrated every August to mark the end of Japanese colonial rule across Korea in 1945.
