GOYANG, South Korea — North and South Korea say they will jointly push for talks with the United State and also potentially China to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped in an armistice and left the Koreas still technically at war.
- They want to hold talks to form a peace treaty
- Hope to officially end the war at the end of the year
History on the Korean Peninsula was made after decades of hostility as the leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un crossed the South Korean border to shake hands and speak with the President of South Korea Moon Jae-in.
The two leaders announced after their summit on Friday that the Koreas will push for three-way talks including Washington or four-way talks that also include Beijing on converting the armistice into a peace treaty and establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.
This one step for Kim is making history as he crossed over the border to South Korea to meet face to face with Moon.
Kim and Moon then went into a "Peace House" to begin their talks.
The North Korean president wrote in a guestbook, "A new history begins now."
The historic meeting was suspected to be about the North's nuclear weapons program.
The Koreas said they hope the parties will be able to declare an official end to the war by the end of this year.
While President Donald Trump has given his "blessing" for the Koreas to discuss an end to the war, there can be no real solution without the involvement of Washington and other parties that fought in the war because South Korea wasn’t a direct signatory to the armistice that stopped the fighting.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.