Japan: ‘It is premature to push to declare end of Korean War’

The Japanese government said it is premature to declare end of the Korean War, which is still in armistice, the Kyoto News Agency reported on Saturday. It is the first time that the Japanese government’s position has been made public with regard to the proposed declaration of end of the Korean War, which Seoul is pushing for.

According to Kyoto, Roh Kyu-deok, head of the Korean Peninsula Peace Negotiation Headquarters at the South Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry, stressed the benefit of declaring end of the Korean War based on President Moon Jae-in’s speech at the United Nations when Roh was attending three-way talks in Washington, D.C. between the chief negotiators for Pyongyang’s denuclearization from Seoul, Washington and Tokyo. Earlier on Sept. 21, President Moon attended the United Nations General Assembly where he proposed that three parties namely the two Koreas and the U.S., and four parties including China, gather together to declare end of the Korean War.

On Roh’s statement, Takehiro Funakoshi, director general of the Asia Pacific and Oceania bureau at the Japanese foreign ministry, expressed objection by saying, “Pushing to declare end of the war is premature” by citing the North’s repeated test-firings of missiles. Sung Kim, Washington’s special envoy for North Korea, did not clarify whether he agrees or disagrees to the suggestion. “There were differences in position on declaring end of the war between the three countries,” Kyoto said.

Japan said since it is not a party to the Korean War and thus it would follow the principle of denuclearization of the Korean War. “Notably, the Kishida administration is concerned that if an end-of-war declaration with North Korea happens before addressing other issues, the kidnappings of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang, the most important task for Japan, could remain unresolved and neglected.”


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