US, North Korea may declare end to Korean War during second summit

South Korean officials hinted that U.S. and North Korea may declare war end.

February 25, 2019, 9:48 AM

HANOI, Vietnam -- South Korean government officials hinted that President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may reach an agreement to declare an end to the Korean War (1950-53) at their summit later this week.

“What format the end-of-war declaration will be, we don’t know exactly," said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in. "But we think there is fair enough possibility of an end of war declaration between the United States and North Korea.”

Kim Jong Un top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, attends a ceremony which saw him off at Pyongyang Railway Station in Pyongyang.
Xinhua/Polaris

President Moon reinforced the sunny outlook for the summit with praise for Trump at a meeting with his senior secretaries on Monday.

“President Trump is personally spearheading diplomacy toward North Korea with his bold determination and new diplomatic strategies in order not to repeat past failures in diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue,” Moon said, noting that a success “will become yet another great feat that will be indelibly recorded in world history.”

President Donald Trump walks with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a break in talks at their summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.
Pool via AFP/Getty Images, FILE

But Trump, speaking in Washington on Sunday, appeared to play down prospects for a major breakthrough at the upcoming summit with Kim on Feb. 27 and 28, he appears to be in no rush as long as North Korea’s testing of any nuclear weapons has ceased.

President Donald Trump greets people as he leaves the State Dining Room of the White House on Feb. 25, 2019, after speaking at the 2019 White House Business Session with Our Nation's Governors.
Carolyn Kaster/AP

"We see eye-to-eye, I believe, but you’ll be seeing it more and more over the next couple of days," Trump said, emphasizing that he and Kim had developed “a very, very good relationship.”

"I don’t want to rush anybody, I just don’t want testing," the U.S. president said. "As long as there’s no testing, we’re happy."

Trump also tweeted on Sunday that Kim knew that "without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World."

Kim is expected to arrive in Hanoi in the early morning on Tuesday. He has taken his personal armored train from Pyongyang on a 60-hour journey passing through China.

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