The Chosun Shinbo, the organ of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan or Chongryon, said the end of the Korean War will be declared in the near future considering progress in six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear programs. A face-to-face meeting between Kim and Bush “is approaching,” it added. The daily claimed the U.S. was “decisively responsible” for the division of the Korean Peninsula and half a century of military tension between the two Koreas.

In a special report on the latest inter-Korean summit, the Chosun Shinbo said it was the first time the heads of the two Koreas agreed on promoting a multilateral summit to declare the end of the “fratricidal war.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow told reporters after a meeting with Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung that declaring the end of the Korean War was realistically unlikely within this year. He said the complete and verifiable abolition of North Korea’s nuclear programs is the most important precondition for a peace declaration to replace the armistice that still officially halts hostilities.

Vershbow said Bush had already confirmed this in Sydney when he met with President Roh Moo-hyun. Discussion on the matter would be possible in 2008, he said, when the third phase of the North Korean denuclearization process begins.

South Korea’s chief delegate to the six-party talks Chun Yung-woo also said Monday a summit among the signatories to the armistice would be unlikely by the end of the year. Roh agreed with Kim to promote a “three or four-way” summit to start discussions on declaring the Korean War over at their recent meeting. Chun told reporters Monday it was desirable for the foreign ministers of the four countries -- the two Koreas, the U.S. and China -- to start negotiations on the end of the Korean war, and for the four countries’ chief envoys to six-party talks to participate. “It is the role of the heads of the four countries to approve and sign the results of the negotiations,” he said. “Realistically, it would be the fastest way to allow foreign ministers of the four countries to declare the launch of negotiations on the end of the Korean War on the sidelines of a denuclearization meeting among foreign ministers of the six countries.” The four-way ministerial meeting would be possible by year’s end, Chun added.

Since last week’s inter-Korean summit, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and senior Cheong Wa Dae officials have claimed a three or four-way summit would be possible this year.

(englishnews@chosun.com )