North Korea Urges US to Accept Peace Deal

61 Years Into Conflict, US Seems Uninterested in Offer

by Jason Ditz, July 27, 2011

Over 61 years after the Korean War began, the United States is still in a state of war with the North Koreans. The North Korean government hopes to change that, however, as a top official arrived in New York today for “exploratory talks” and urged the signing of a peace treaty.

North Korea’s state news agency released a statement on the issue, insisting that the 1953 armistice should be replaced with a permanent end to hostilities and an actual peace treaty between the nations involved in the conflict.

The statement also made it clear that the North Korean government believes that a peace deal would be a key to moving toward nuclear disamament on the Korean Peninsula. The North Korean government successfully tested a nuclear weapon in May, 2009.

The offer of a peace treaty is not new, as North Korean officials have been suggested such a deal for years. In January, 2010 the US State Department angrily rejected the notion of peace with the North Koreans, saying they could “never” accept normalization of relations with the regime.

Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz