Why is the US cautious about declaring the end of the Korean War?

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: AP

However, the United States, which first deployed military forces to the Korean Peninsula in 1950 and still maintains 28,500 troops there, is not ready to agree to a peace declaration.

This will certainly be a hot issue on the agenda when the leaders of South and North Korea hold their third summit in Pyongyang next September.

Both countries want an end to the war declared this year, with the US and possibly China involved. Pyongyang is adamant that such a declaration be made before it moves forward with denuclearisation. However, US officials have so far refused to issue a formal peace declaration for a variety of reasons.

First, the United States wants to verify Pyongyang’s denuclearization efforts. The Trump administration, like its predecessors Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, has placed North Korea’s nuclear weapons program at the forefront.

The main reason is that North Korea is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads that would allow Pyongyang to strike the US mainland.

In a joint statement at their June summit in Singapore, the US and North Korea said Pyongyang had committed to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. However, the two sides did not agree on the concept of denuclearisation.

North and South Korea want a declaration ending the war this fall, but for the US that timeline is too soon..

The inter-Korean governments are working on a deadline for reaching such a declaration by the end of the year at the latest, but ideally by September 18, when the United Nations General Assembly opens in New York. UN officials may invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to attend the meeting and deliver a speech.

Professor John Delury of Yonsei University in Seoul said the best-case scenario is that Kim Jong-un arrives at the UN with a peace declaration in hand. However, US officials remain skeptical of Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearization and believe that the deadline is too fast.

GenderUS officials fear a peace declaration could dilute the US military's role in Asia.

They fear that the South Korean President may seek to reduce the US military presence or weaken the South Korea-US alliance, following a declaration ending the war./.