With tensions on the peninsula once again sharpening, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is urging North Korea to return to the table for talks aimed at formally ending the Korean War — even as Pyongyang draws closer to Russia and insists its nuclear status cannot be reversed.
More than seven decades after fighting began, the two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict — sparked by a North Korean attack — concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Lee laid out his proposal during a ceremony commemorating Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.
“Let us put down our intentions to threaten each other and begin discussions to end the long-running war as the directly involved parties,” Mr Lee said in his speech.
“Through this, it may also be possible to discuss effective measures to halt the advancement of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities,” he added.
The initiative comes as North Korea this week condemned the upcoming annual US-South Korean military drills, warning that it would respond with stronger deterrence measures.
Pyongyang has also recently been bristling over Japan’s gradual military build-up in the Pacific — launching two missiles in as many weeks after Tokyo vowed to enhance its defence capabilities with a “sense of urgency and crisis”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in 2019
North Korea has repeatedly described itself as an “irreversible” nuclear state since the 2019 summit between Mr Kim and US counterpart Donald Trump in Hanoi fell apart, with the two sides unable to bridge differences over denuclearisation demands and sanctions relief.
Since taking power in Seoul in June 2025, South Korea’s dovish President Lee has steered policy away from the hardline approach of his hawkish predecessor, extending offers of dialogue to nuclear-armed Pyongyang without preconditions.
In July, South Korea’s unification minister went further, saying Seoul had dropped a campaign that prioritised pressuring the North to dismantle its nuclear weapons and was instead concentrating on stopping the growth of Pyongyang’s nuclear activities.
North Korea’s tightly controlled leadership has not replied to Mr Lee’s repeated proposals, choosing instead to deepen its military cooperation with Russia.
Analysts say Pyongyang is receiving financial support, food, energy and military technology from Moscow in exchange for supplying troops and munitions for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to travel to Russia later this year, potentially to discuss additional weapons supplies for Moscow.
Washington, Seoul’s main security ally, has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea to bolter the country’s defences 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 has altered the threat environment facing troops on the 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 joint exercises set to begin Monday.
“Our training accounts for that threat.”
