South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has called for new negotiations with North Korea aimed at formally ending the Korean War. Speaking on August 15 during ceremonies marking Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Lee said the two Koreas should move beyond the armistice that halted fighting in 1953 and establish a permanent ‘peace regime.’ He also argued that negotiations could provide an opportunity to restrain North Korea’s expanding nuclear program.

North Korea has rejected recent South Korean overtures. It has increasingly described South Korea as a hostile state and has continued developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Pyongyang has simultaneously strengthened its relationship with Russia, including military cooperation connected with Russia’s war in Ukraine. North Korea has yet to respond to the new calls for peace talks.

The new proposal aims to address one of the lasting legacies of the Cold War. The Korean War began in 1950 when North Korean forces invaded South Korea. Although large-scale fighting ended on July 27, 1953, the conflict concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. An armistice is just a temporary cease-fire, and because no formal peace treaty has even been adopted, technically a state of war still exists between North and South Korea.

President Lee says he wants to change that. His government has increasingly adopted what Unification Minister Chung Dong-young describes as a ‘peace first’ strategy, arguing that demanding complete North Korean denuclearization before serious negotiations has produced little progress. Seoul still supports eventual denuclearization but is increasingly interested in intermediate measures, including freezing or limiting North Korea’s nuclear buildup while reducing military tensions.

North Korea has shown little interest in peace negotiations in the past decade. Instead of negotiations, North Korea has chosen to continue making threats against South Korea and the United States. North Korea possesses one of the world’s largest artillery forces, and in any conflict with South Korea, it is likely Seoul would be destroyed in a matter of hours by artillery fire, regardless of American air power. Such a conflict could cause millions of casualties and catastrophic damage to the global economy, of which South Korea plays a major role.

The United States could also play a crucial role in potential peace talks. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in renewed diplomacy with Kim and, immediately after President Lee’s proposal, ordered the Pentagon to reduce the scale of U.S.-South Korean military exercises. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has yet to respond.

A successful peace agreement could have enormous security benefits for the Asia Pacific region. Formal mechanisms for military communication and arms control could reduce the possibility that a border incident, missile launch, or misunderstanding escalates into war. It might also create a diplomatic framework for limiting North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.

Approximately 28,500 American military personnel are stationed in South Korea, while Washington provides Seoul with extended nuclear deterrence. A peace settlement would not automatically require those forces to leave, but North Korea would almost certainly use negotiations to challenge their presence.

For Japan and other U.S. allies, the central question will likely be whether peace negotiations genuinely reduce North Korea’s military threat or merely weaken the alliance confronting it.