{"id":120456,"date":"2026-08-15T12:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/120456\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T12:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:24:47","slug":"south-koreas-lee-calls-for-ending-war-with-north-korea-and-pursuing-peaceful-coexistence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/120456\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s Lee calls for ending war with North Korea and pursuing \u2018peaceful coexistence\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung<\/a> called for talks with rival North Korea to \u201cpursue peaceful coexistence\u201d, urging the need to replace the Korean peninsula’s armistice<\/a> with a “peace regime”.<\/p>\n

The Korean War of <\/a>1950-53<\/a> was stopped \u200bby a ceasefire and not a peace treaty.<\/p>\n

In a speech marking the 81st \u200banniversary of Korea\u2019s liberation from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II<\/a>, the president called for dialogue to end the war once and for all. <\/p>\n

Mr Lee said Seoul<\/a> and Pyongyang<\/a> must \u201csit down together to pursue peaceful coexistence and shared growth\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cRather than a concession,\u201d the president said, \u201cthis would mark the start of coexistence.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll embark on a journey to end war and transform the Korean Peninsula\u2019s unstable armistice<\/a> into a peace regime. Let\u2019s drop all intentions of threatening one another and initiate dialogue among directly concerned parties in order to conclude this long war,\u201d Mr Lee said, adding that talks could also explore ways to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities.<\/p>\n

\"SouthSouth Korean president Lee Jae Myung speaks during a ceremony to celebrate the 81st anniversary of the Korean Liberation Day in Seoul (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

The president assured that Seoul would \u200btake the steps needed to ease tensions on the peninsula and \u200bbuild safeguards to contain escalation. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula is a duty, not a choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang\u2019s relations with Seoul remain broken, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un<\/a> labelling the rival nation \u2060as the most hostile state and ordering stronger frontline defences.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang has criticised Seoul\u2019s \u2060joint military drills with the US and its plan to build nuclear-powered submarines as grave provocations.<\/p>\n

\"LeeLee Jae Myung and his wife Kim Hea Kyung wave the national flag (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Speaking about his country\u2019s ties with Japan, Mr Lee said cooperation between the two countries was \u201cmore important than ever\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said that Seoul and Tokyo had broadened cooperation in recent years in supply chains, energy and advanced industries. <\/p>\n

\u201cGuided by pragmatic diplomacy centred on national interests,\u201d he said, \u201cmy administration will continue to broaden the horizons of cooperation in pursuit of our shared interests and pool our collective wisdom to resolve common challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leader called for confronting the past while leaving open the \u2060future when it came to dealing with the memory of Japanese colonial rule and hoped to launch 60 years of peace and prosperity with the “close neighbour”.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust is formed through mutual empathy and a sincere recognition of one another\u2019s pain,\u201d he said. \u201cTo this day, victims and bereaved families are still living with the wounds and pain of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3151,8695,141,31,34],"class_list":["post-120456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-history","tag-horizontal","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-north-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}