End to Korean War agreed to "in principle", says Moon

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that China, North Korea and the United States have agreed in principle to the declaration putting an end to the Korean War. “Australia has also supported the end of war declaration proposal by the Korean government and the relevant parties to this declaration. It would be the United States, China and Republic of Korea and North Korea. And I believe, in principle, everybody agrees to the declaration,” Moon said during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison after bilateral talks in Canberra.The Korean War de facto ended in 1953 after the US and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ratified an armistice without signing a peace treaty. Moon also said that the declaration should establish a peace regime in the Korean Peninsula and put an end to the “quite unstable” armistice, stressing that it was important to initiate talks between North and South Korea and between the US and North Korea. Morrison and Moon also agreed to upgrade the formal ties between their nations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”. 

The two countries signed a 1bn Australian dollars ($720mn) defence deal as Moon became the first foreign leader to visit Australia since the pandemic began.The deal will see South Korean defence company Hanwha provide the Australian army with artillery weapons, supply vehicles and radars.It’s the largest defence contract struck between Australia and an Asian nation, and comes at a time of heightened tensions between Australia and China. South Korea’s president on ruled out joining a US diplomatic boycott of February’s Beijing Winter Olympics, citing the need to work with China. Moon said he was “not considering” snubbing the Olympics to protest China’s human rights abuses, as several Western nations have done. “We have not received a request from any other country including the United States to participate in the diplomatic boycott,” he said.