A black-and-white photo taken more than six decades ago shows North and South Korea coming together to sign armistice documents – which put a stop to roughly three years of fighting between the two countries – but didn’t necessarily end the Korean War.
In the July 26, 1953 photo U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison Jr. of the United Nations Command Delegation is seated at a table on the left while North Korean General Nam Il sits at a table on the right.
Both leaders signed armistice documents in Armistice Hall in Panmunjom, a no-man’s-land between the Koreas.
In this July 26, 1953 photo U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison Jr. (left) of the United Nations Command Delegation and North Korean General Nam Il (right) sign an armistice in in Armistice Hall in Panmunjom, a no-man’s-land between the Koreas
South Koreans held a rally hoping for successful summit between president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12
South Korean peace group members hold Korean Peninsula-shaped cardboards during a rally to wish for peace at the summit
The armistice was more of a ceasefire agreement, instead of a permanent peace treaty. North and South Korea are technically still at war, 68 years later.
President Donald Trump during his June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hopes to bring peace between the countries and officially end the decades-long war.
‘We talked about ending the war,’ Trump said at the White House after his meeting earlier this month with senior North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol. ‘It’s got to be the longest war — almost 70 years, right? And there is a possibility of something like that. … Can you believe that we’re talking about the ending of the Korean War?’
Trump has said that he hopes his summit with Kim Jong-un will result in a peace treaty ending the decades-long Korean War. Howard, an Australian-Chinese impersonating North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (left), and Dennis Alan, who is impersonating Trump (right) attend an event in Singapore
President Donald Trump (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (right) will meet on June 12
Complete North Korean denuclearization will likely take much more than a single summit, but Trump may see a peace deal as a quick, fairly painless path to a Nobel Peace Prize. Kim Jong-un, meanwhile, is pursuing a long-sought North Korean demand for a treaty that may be aimed at getting US troops off the Korean Peninsula and, eventually, paving the way for a North Korean-led unified Korea.
Beyond the speculation over motivation, however, Trump and Kim Jong-un may face huge obstacles to settling a deal on their own; some even question whether a treaty, if they managed to pull it off, could lead to disaster, not peace.