South Korea’s president has offered North Korea talks to end the war and halt its nuclear program.

On Saturday, August 15, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called on North Korea to begin talks to end the war and discuss stopping Pyongyang’s nuclear development.

Yonhap reports this.

Lee made the proposal during a speech at a ceremony to mark the 81st anniversary of Korea’s Liberation Day from Japanese colonial rule.

The President called on Seoul and Pyongyang to abandon mutual threats and engage in dialogue to end the decades-long conflict. He stated that effective mechanisms for halting North Korea’s nuclear program could be discussed during the talks.

Lee said his administration would seek to end the current state of war and replace the unstable ceasefire system with a full-fledged peace regime.

At the same time, Pyongyang has so far failed to respond to repeated signals of reconciliation from Seoul since Lee came to power last June.

Despite this, South Korean authorities plan to continue attempts to establish dialogue with the DPRK and achieve peaceful coexistence between the two states.

The Korean War of 1950-1953 never formally ended with a peace treaty. The fighting ceased after an armistice, so South and North Korea are still legally in a state of war.