Commemorations were held in North and South Korea today marking the 67th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. The Armistice ended the fighting in the conflict, pending a peace deal. 67 years later, there is still no peace deal, and the war is still technically not over.
That’s not just an oversight, either. Over the past several decades North Korea has broached the subject of peace a few times, but the US has spurned the idea, saying it would “reward” North Korea. South Korea had also pushed the idea during recent years of peace talks, but no deals were reached, and it seemed the US was still the stumbling block.
How stable the armistice even is isn’t clear, as North Korea has declared the Armistice ended a few times when tensions were high. That was a big part of why replacing it with a proper peace is essential as a way to stabilize the situation.
Negotiations have been paused for some time now, and that makes it unlikely any deal is coming soon. For North Korea, a peace treaty and sanctions relief are their main goals in such talks, however, and that again leaves open the question of if the US will ever tolerate not being at war with them.
American Generals want this conflict to last forever.