한반도 종전선언의 법적 성격과 한국의 대응방향

Panmunjom Declaration adopted at the third South-North Summit Talks which was held in April 27, 2018 provided for a proclamation of the end of the Korean War(hereafter abbreviated as PEKW). Because of this, the matter has drawn much attention domestic and abroad in recent times. PEKW means a political declaration pronouncing the end of war and restoration of peace on the international level. This idea had been worked out in order to precipitate the North Korean nuclear dismantlement in 2007. PEKW formula could be said to be closely related with a special situation facing the two Koreas. But it is not general in international society to separate war ending solely from a peace agreement and make a political declaration for that event. Until now the United States which has deep concern and direct interests in the Korean peace mechanism is not positive to this plan. While PEKW is not legally binding in formality, its political impact will be substantially strong. It is desirable that considering this point, South Korea(Republic of Korea: ROK) make continuous efforts to build a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula on the premise of sincere implementation of the Korean Armistice Agreement instead of adopting PEKW hurriedly in earlier times. Non-the-less, there is a possibility that PEKW idea will come true as a result of compromise of the relevant countries in the future. In such a case, ROK is proper to drive a strategy to tie up advancing and adopting PEKW with North Korean denuclearization by a phased approach.