North Korea once proposed to establish a neutral federal state with South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: AP

According to the document, then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev presented this secret proposal from North Korea to then US President Ronald Reagan during a summit in Washington on December 9, 1987.

Under this plan, North Korea wants to establish a federal-style republic, combining two different governments representing the two Koreas, while declaring North Korea a neutral state that can serve as a regional buffer zone.

Pyongyang also called for the two Koreas to sign a non-aggression pact and replace the armistice with a peace treaty, while proposing that the new entity join the United Nations under a single name.

Additionally, Pyongyang seeks to scrap all agreements or treaties reached with third parties that are deemed to be contrary to North Korea's pursuit of reunification, a demand that has been interpreted as a way to pressure Seoul into abandoning the US-South Korea mutual defense treaty.

North Korea also proposed that the two Koreas reduce their respective troop numbers to less than 100,000 as a step toward establishing a state of peace, calling for the withdrawal of all nuclear weapons and foreign troops from the Korean peninsula, seemingly aimed at US troops stationed in South Korea.

The document also describes that, according to a telegram sent from the then South Korean ambassador to ministries in Seoul dated December 14, 1987, Mr. Gorbachev asked Mr. Colin Powell - President Reagan's security adviser - whether he had considered the North Korean proposal. Mr. Powell said he would review the document soon and expressed hope that the matter would remain secret.

Washington then said that this was an issue that South Korea needed to resolve, and considered the proposal unrealistic unless North Korea showed goodwill to build trust.

The document also mentioned the resumption of inter-Korean talks as a prerequisite for peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas on the Korean Peninsula, and called on both Washington and Moscow to take balanced measures to ease tensions in the region.

North Korea’s decades-old proposal is drawing public attention at a time when the two Koreas are scheduled to hold their third summit on April 27 to discuss ways to improve bilateral relations that have been strained for a long time over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs./.