SEOUL: North Korea has said that the United States would play a key role in formally declaring the end of the over six-decades-old Korean War and paving the way for long-lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean government's official newspaper, said in a commentary, "There is no reason to ignore a declaration to end the war. It is a preliminary and essential process to pave the ground for detente and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula."
The newspaper elucidated that the people of South Korea and Koreans living in the US held gatherings to call for the end of the Korean War, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Pledging Washington to carry out its 'phased measures' on the same, The Rodong Sinmun stressed, "The US should implement phased and simultaneous measures, like the end-of-war declaration, to build mutual trust and make a breakthrough in the security of the world."
Meanwhile, North Korea's external propaganda website Meari expressed reservations that talks on peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula would be meaningless without signing a declaration of ending the war.
"As long as the armistice remains intact, even a small accidental event could immediately escalate into a crisis. If so, the North's relations with the South and the US could revert to the past phase of confrontation," the website said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in pledged to end the 1950-53 Korean War during their meeting on April 27, with a permanent peace treaty replacing the armistice agreement that ceased all hostilities on the Korean Peninsula. The two Koreas are technically at war, as no peace treaty was signed.
Last month, North Korea had demanded South Korea to actively implement the agreement reached during the inter-Korean summit, in order to formally end the 65-year-old Korean War.