South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has called for talks with North Korea aimed at formally bringing the Korean War to an end, even as Pyongyang tightens its partnership with Russia and insists its nuclear status cannot be reversed.
The Korean peninsula remains technically at war. The 1950-53 conflict, launched by a North Korean attack, concluded with an armistice — not a peace treaty.
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Lee issued the appeal during a ceremony commemorating Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.
“Let us set aside our intentions to threaten one another and begin discussions to end this long-running war as the directly involved parties,” Mr Lee said in his address.
His proposal came days after North Korea condemned the annual military exercises planned by the United States and South Korea, warning that it would respond by strengthening its deterrence measures.
Pyongyang has also reacted angrily to Japan’s gradual military expansion in the Pacific. North Korea fired two missiles over two weeks after Tokyo pledged to accelerate the development of its defence capabilities with a “sense of urgency and crisis”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in 2019
Since a 2019 summit in Hanoi between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-US President Donald Trump ended without agreement on the scope of denuclearisation or sanctions relief, Pyongyang has repeatedly described itself as an “irreversible” nuclear state.
Lee, regarded as dovish on relations with the North, has moved away from the tougher approach of his predecessor since taking office in Seoul in June 2025. His government has offered Pyongyang talks without preconditions.
In July, South Korea’s unification minister said Seoul had dropped its previous emphasis on pressuring the North to dismantle its nuclear arsenal, choosing instead to focus on preventing further growth in Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities.
North Korea’s secretive leadership has not responded to Lee’s repeated overtures. Instead, it has continued to expand its military cooperation with Russia.
Analysts say Moscow is providing Pyongyang with financial assistance, food, energy and military technology in exchange for troops and ammunition supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un is expected to travel to Russia later this year, where he could discuss additional weapons supplies for Moscow.
The United States, South Korea’s principal security ally, keeps about 28,500 troops stationed in the country to help defend against military threats from Pyongyang.
Colonel Ryan Donald, a spokesman for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said this week that North Korea’s involvement in the European war had altered the threat American and South Korean forces could face on the Korean peninsula.
“They’ve taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea,” he told reporters while discussing the 11-day South Korea-US military exercises scheduled to begin Monday.
“Our training accounts for that threat.”
