On the Korean peninsula, a declaration of peace can lead to war

Earlier this month, South Korea’s government stated it would try to formally end the Korean War. A July 1953 armistice ended the fighting, but the combatants — the United Nations Command, China and the two Koreas — have not signed a formal treaty. South Korea did not even sign the armistice.

“The government will seek the ‘peace declaration’ that reflects the political will to end the Korean War and kick off discussions for the establishment of a peace regime, including the signing of a peace treaty,” the Unification Ministry wrote to the foreign affairs and unification committee of the National Assembly, the country’s unicameral legislature.  

What’s wrong with peace? A peace declaration could lead straight to war.

A declaration would probably result in the termination of America’s mutual defense treaty with South Korea. An end to that pact would substantially increase the possibility that North Korea would move against the South, perhaps with a war. 

South Korea’s government, headed by President Lee Jae-myung, this month unveiled its “Korean Peninsula Peace Package.”

North Korea, however, is not a willing partner in peace. Last month, at the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the North’s ruling organization rejected all dialogue and engagement with the South. Kim Jong Un, the regime’s leader, had earlier signaled this stance: In 2024, he called the South the “primary foe and invariable principal enemy.”  

At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet........

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