Female leaders from 38 nations, including multiple peace organizations, have issued a letter today calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to begin the process toward ending the Korean War with a formal peace treaty, saying he should aim to have it done by 2018.
The Korean War was a UN commanded operation, and was fought from 1950-1953. It didn’t actually “end” then, however, but rather everyone signed a temporary armistice meant to be replaced by a full peace treaty. Though the UN General Assembly called for efforts toward a peace deal in 1975, the Security Council has yet to do so.
North Korea has expressed support for the idea of a peace treaty a few times in recent years, though this has been repeatedly spurned, with the US in particular criticizing such efforts, and warning that ending the 1950 war once and for all would amount to “rewarding” North Korea for its current behavior.
The Security Council’s response to the open letter was as near to a non-response as possible as well, with Ban’s deputy, Farhan Haq, saying that the UN is “aware” of the letter and is still looking at it. He gave no suggestion that any such policy changes would happen.
Nobody cares. It’s likely that sane minds know that North Korea only seeks nuclear weapons as a deterrent to future US aggression. It’s literally insanity to think anything else. But that doesn’t stop the propagandists from convincing the majority of the American people that North Korea intends a first strike. Americans live in a movie world, not in the real world.
Since the treaty is evidently to be with the UN command, presumably North Korea will be claiming back its occupied territory in the south, plus of course reparations and an admission of war guilt.
I’d support dividing the Korean peninsula into two sovereign states with the border along the present line of control, but this doesn’t seem to be what’s on offer. I can’t see this one being solved any time soon.