On Nov, 23, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-In announced ongoing joint efforts to finalize an end of war declaration document. The Korean War (1950-53) that killed an estimated 1.2 million Koreans and 40, 000 Americans never formally ended, but rather was halted with an Armistice Agreement that left the Korean Civil War frozen and the peninsula divided indefinitely at the 38th parallel with a Communist North and Capitalist South. While hostilities have flared periodically during the ensuing 68 years, the armistice has helped hold back the prospects of war. A formal end of war declaration presents a new opportunity to achieve peace and security in the Indo-Pacific through military de-escalation and should proceed at full speed.
