Declaration of the End of the Korean War?

The most recent South Korean news reports, July 14, and 15, confirmed that the US side, at the Pyongyang meeting, would not accept the North Korean proposal for an announcement in the near future of the end of the Korean conflict, not until measures are taken to denuclearize by North Korea. The US negotiating position was confirmed by a US State Department official, Mark Lambert, Korea section chief, in a Channel A news video clip shown above. South Korean President Moon Jae In, at the ASEAN conference in Singapore, referred to the which comes first problem, "the chicken or the egg," in relation to the current impasse. This impasse was probably known to the working level negotiators before the meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, in Pyongyang. Trump's statements in Washington DC, in early June on the occasion of meeting with Kim Yong Chol, induced the summit by appearing to accept a reciprocal negotiating process to meet North Korea security concerns when the president publicly discussed the possibility of declaring an end to the Korean conflict on the White House lawn.(See my July 12, discussion below, Kim Didn't Get "Everything he Wanted at the Summit.") South Korean reports suggest their representatives will attempt to intermediate the gap between the two sides. It is anticipated that more working level talks will take place in August, with the possibility of a turning point in September. Of course, turning point means it can go either way. Kim apparently has been offered the promise of an appearance and an address at the UN General Assembly in September if he plays ball.

This morning at Panmunjeom, a high level meeting took place at the request of North Korean military representatives with United Nations Command/US Forces Korea representatives to discuss the return of remains of US servicemen killed in the Korean conflict and possibly other military issues related to the proposal to declare an end of the Korean conflict. This is the first high level meeting between North Korean military officers and UNC officers in over nine years. After failing to show at the scheduled meeting at Panmunjeom on July 11, where the US military representatives were left waiting all day, the North Koreans said they weren't prepared and requested a communication line to the UNC, and further requested that the next meeting be at the general officer level.