SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – President Donald Trump has given his “blessing” for North and South Korea to discuss the end of the Korean War amid a diplomatic push to end the North Korean nuclear standoff. One problem: There can be no real talks without the involvement of the other countries that fought the 1950-53 war, and especially the United States.
The reason is that South Korea wasn’t a direct signatory to the armistice that stopped the fighting but left the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.
There’s widespread interest in what South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plan will talk about during their summit on April 27, which would only be the third such meeting between the countries’ leaders. A separate meeting between Kim and Trump is anticipated in May or June.
Trump revealed Tuesday that the U.S. and North Korea had been holding direct talks at “extremely high levels” in preparation for their summit. Trump also said that North and South Korea are negotiating an end to hostilities before next week’s summit.
“They do have my blessing to discuss the end of the war,” Trump said.